Photographic control system, devices and methods

ABSTRACT

A control system for use with preconfigured photographic equipment that includes a controllable photographic device controlled by a controlling photographic device is disclosed. The controllable photographic device has a housing, and a device circuit having an upstream portion and a downstream portion coupled by control lines within the housing. An internal module may be located within the housing and includes a signal detecting arrangement configured to be coupled with the control lines between the upstream and downstream portions. The system may also include an external module configured to be located outside of the housing, and coupled with the internal module. The external module may include a signal receiving device capable of receiving a wireless control signal from the controlling photographic device, and to cause a module generated signal to be sent by the internal module to the downstream portion upon receipt of the wireless control signal.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/825,270, which in turn claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/221,083, filed Jun. 28, 2009,entitled WIRELESS CAMERA FLASH RADIO DATA MODULE SET, and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/293,145, filed Jan. 7, 2010,entitled DATABASE LICENSING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE SYSTEM FOR RADIOWIRELESS CAMERA AND FLASH SYSTEMS, and incorporates the entiredisclosures of the aforementioned applications by reference for allpurposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to peripheral devices used inphotography systems. More specifically, this application relates to asystem, devices, and methods to augment a large number of dissimilargroups of photographic peripheral devices to enable a substantiallystandardized intercommunication protocol between the peripheral devicesand a various cameras, and between the peripheral devices themselves.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

For many years companies have introduced various combinations of radiofrequency (“RF”) based trigger and control devices which essentiallyprovide a synchronization signal which causes a lighting device tooperate in synchronization with an activation of a camera shutter duringpicture taking. Some devices have gone a step further to include a meansto provide basic control functions to the remote lighting via RF such asturning the light emission intensity up or down, fine tuning the Kelvincolor temperature of the light, and the like.

Lighting equipment manufacturers attempting to design proprietary RFsynchronization into their lights often find that mastering bothlighting engineering and RF engineering is costly and time consuming.Complying with FCC (Federal Communications Commission) certificationrequirements also adds cost and time to development cycles. Often therisk of implementing an inferior radio solution into their lightingdevices is too high for many lighting component manufactures.

The industry needs a substantially standardized radio communicationssystem that can be readily implemented by large numbers of potentialequipment manufactures and end users. A standardized system would appealto end customers because there would be an increased chance thatpurchasing equipment supporting one, or few, standardized protocolswould enable them to control a large range of lighting equipment.

Many end users, particularly novices to photography or advancedphotographic lighting, find the task of learning to control lightingequipment to be a steep learning curve, which often prevents them fromfully understanding the function of their lighting equipment. Theexistence of a substantially standardized control system would mean anend user would only need to learn a single control system, and that theycould be reasonably assured that all similarly configured equipmentwould function in a similar way.

Photographic peripheral device manufacturers adopting a substantiallystandardized radio communications system could enjoy “turn-key” typesolutions, requiring very low research and development cost, and shorttime to market. And since end user training time is minimized, amanufacturer's customers would more likely purchase new, and improved,RF enabled products.

In addition, it is estimated that retrofitting peripheral devices couldbe accomplished in relatively short order. Embodiments in accordancewith the present disclosure may be easily and inexpensively configuredto work with units currently being designed, and with existing stockunits.

The industry also needs a way to maintain control over its ownproprietary signaling means and product lines. A standardized RFprotocol and hardware may allow individual manufacturers the ability tocontrol access to individual features within their own product whilemaintaining reasonable assurance that a competing manufacturer could noteasily produce a similar or cloned response in their original hardware.

Embodiments in accordance with the current disclosure may include asystem of electronic modules. The system may include a first set ofmodules having a number of subsets which many vary slightly from set toset, and a second set of modules all substantially the same, i.e.without any subsets. Individual units from respective subsets (i.e. fromthe first set) may be configured to be operatively coupled withrespective sets of preconfigured photographic peripheral devices.Individual units from the second set of modules may then be configuredto operatively couple with the any module from the first set regardlessof which subset it is from.

Each module from the first set may be referred to as an Internal Module,or IM, as it may be disposed internal to a peripheral device. Eachmodule from the second set may be referred to as an External Module, orEM, as it may be physically coupled external to a peripheral device, andas discussed, each EM may be operatively coupled to an IM.

Photographic peripherals generally include at least one controllablefeature. As such, peripheral devices will be referred to in thisdisclosure as “controlled devices”, “controlled equipment”, or“controllable devices”. The External modules EMs may be configured toreceive or transmit control signals by, for example, radio frequency,and may be able to convey control signals electrically or optically toor from various types of controllable device via the IMs. The IM and theEM and/or other modules described herein may be circuit boards. In somecases, the circuit boards may be in communication with each otherelectrically or optically to achieve the desired communication.

The IM may be easily added to lighting equipment during manufacture,retrofitted to units already manufactured or distributed, or attached byan end user via a connector external to the lighting equipment. The IMmay be coupled with the controllable device internal to the controllabledevice, or in an additional enclosure attached to the exterior of thecontrollable device.

The EM of the present invention may be inexpensively manufactured andmay be very small as it may contain minimal circuitry which may begenerally non-specific to controlling any given kind of controllabledevice. The EM may not require its own internal primary power source, asthe operating power may be drawn from the IM during operation.

Embodiments in accordance with present disclosure may employ astandardized protocol or a proprietary protocol for sending and/orreceiving data and/or control signals between radio links. Each IM andEM may include hardware and may be equipped with software, and/orfirmware, which may allow the protocol to be implemented to allowinteraction with circuitry internal to the controllable devices.

Embodiments may be configured to provide an efficient and effective IMrequiring minimal manufacturing and assembly cost. In many cases variousIMs may be constructed to be retrofitted into many different peripheraldevices

Many photographic peripheral devices may employ a relatively smallnumber of signal lines. In one example, a first peripheral device mayinclude a line to carry a pulse representing an activation, i.e. atrigger pulse, to cause the light to flash and emit light insynchronization with a camera shutter, and an analog voltage referencemay be used to control the brightness or intensity of the flash whenactivated. The space and cost required to implement just the triggerpulse and analog reference voltage may be very minimal.

In another example, a different model of lighting equipment may requirea pulse activation line as well as a serial communication line. In thisexample, a binary serial data signal may be sent to the controllabledevice representing the desired intensity of the flash. In the secondexample again, basic internal I/O components that provide the triggersignal and a serial data signal may be small and inexpensive, and simpleto design and build.

For at least these reasons, it may be simple and inexpensive to designIM modules in accordance with the current disclosure, i.e. modulescontaining only the basic required I/O hardware and software to controlor activate a specific model of controllable device. Many such IMmodules can be rapidly designed specific to a potentially enormous rangeof controllable devices. Embodiments may enable a given manufacturer ofa given controllable device to install an IM while having minimal to noknowledge of radio signaling, and at minimal cost per unit.

Since the IM may be designed specifically for a given controllabledevice, manufacturers may require little to no retooling or redesign toincorporate the new functionality. The new functionality may also beeasily retrofitted into existing stock or even units already in use bytheir customer base. The manufacturer may continue to sell the samecontrollable device at the same retail price with no additional markupor minimal markup while enjoying increased sales due to the added valueof having a pre-installed, or retrofitted, IM.

On the side of the EM, only a single model or embodiment of EM may needto be designed. The EM may be configured to be extremely small andcompact. Since a single EM design may be used across a wide range ofcontrollable device, the EM may be produced in high volume, furtherreducing cost. There may only be one round of certification and toolingcosts. Thus a robust and advanced radio communication device may now beused with a wide range of controllable devices. In addition, a given EMmay be quickly moved between any number of controllable devicesincluding widely differing kinds of controllable devices from differentmanufacturers.

As the EM is likely to be the most expensive part of the system, an enduser may purchase the EM only if they require wireless functionality oftheir equipment. While at the same time, a large portion of equipmentmay be installed with the much lower cost I/O and hardware specific IMportion of the system.

The EM may include a radio receiver, transmitter, or transceiver capableof conveying control signals wirelessly with other portions of alighting or control system such as other EM modules attached to othercontrollable devices, or other wireless devices.

The EM may draw primary power via an electrical connection to the IM viaa connector installed in the controllable device. The connector maypenetrate the exterior enclosure of the controllable device. The IM maydraw its primary power supply via electrical connection to anappropriate voltage and current source inside the controllable device.

Embodiments in accordance with the current disclosure may enablemanufactures to assert control over proprietary functions,microprocessors designs, and software code routines, and to limit accessthereof to only users who have purchased appropriate licensing. Further,embodiments may enable a given manufacturer to implement advancedfunctions which may be covered by technologies owned by a secondmanufacturer. For example, a technology may be rightfully owned by onemanufacturer which may make possible an extremely fast discharge oflight from a xenon tube. Some photographers shooting very faststop-motion type images (such as a bullet exiting a gun barrel) may haveuse for this, but for many others a slower discharge time may besufficient.

Various embodiments may enable easy licensing of only the number ofusers actually using the given technology. Thus, the first manufacturermay not have to pass along the cost of the licensing particularfeature(s) to all of its customers—rather, only those who would actuallyuse and agree to pay for use of the protected feature(s).

Further, embodiments may enable licenses to be synchronized with acomputer system or database external to the EM. A reliable record couldbe maintained recording the number of licenses currently in use. Therecord could be referenced by the owner of the protected technology.

In some embodiments, license keys may be stored in the EM. The licensekeys may grant a given user the ability to control certain types ofcontrollable device, or certain features within the controllable device.A processor may be provided on the IM, and may be configured to executeportions of code or processes which control given functions of thecontrollable device. However, in some cases the IM may be configured tofirst check if the appropriate license key is present in the attachedEM.

The EM may include a unique digital serial number that may be set duringmanufacture. The serial number may be difficult to alter or tamper withby an end user. The serial number may be used to uniquely identify thegiven EM to other systems such as computer systems or remote databases.This serial number may be used to uniquely relate a license key or setof license keys to a specific EM.

The EM may provide a communication coupling for electricallycommunicating with a computer system. The communication coupling may be,for example, a standard Universal Serial Bus “USB” connector. The EM mayuse the communication coupling to exchange control signals or licensekey information with a computer system. The computer system may then usethe internet or other network service to poll a remote database and tosynchronize the license keys activated in the EM with those paid for, orauthorized as reported by the database. Thus, embodiments may enable theremote management and licensing of features available to the IM of thepresent invention. The features may be licensed differently for eachmodel, manufacturer, or type of controllable device. The EM may also usethe USB port to receive power, for charging/recharging.

The hardware and protocol of various embodiments and the substantiallystandardized EM may make it possible for the EM to also function as a“digital keychain” or “hardware lock” for various features or functionsof a lighting device, or a camera device, or the like. The digitalkeychain functionality may be easily transported by the user betweenlocations and between different setups of controllable device.Embodiments may also make possible the interaction with control signalsor functions of a lighting device or camera device by way of acompatibly built control device in the form of the IM which is specificto a given type of controllable device at very low cost.

Embodiments according to the current disclosure thus may provide forseveral key needs sought by the industry's end users, as well as theindustry's equipment manufacturers. Firstly, embodiments may provide asubstantially standardized control system, with the potential for wideacceptance, which may be operable across many makes, models, and brandsof controllable device, and that may have a low cost of implementationfor manufacturers of controllable device. Secondly, the manufacturersmay choose to license their own internal proprietary features on a userby user basis while at the same time providing a substantiallystandardized and widely accepted communication system to a diverse userbase.

In particular, this application discloses a control system for use withpreconfigured photographic equipment which, in some embodiments,includes a controllable photographic device controllable by acontrolling photographic device. The controllable photographic devicemay have a housing, a controllable device circuit may be includedsubstantially within the housing and may have an upstream portion and adownstream portion coupled by one or more control lines. The controlsystem may include an internal module physically located substantiallywithin the housing and including a signal directing arrangement. Thesignal directing arrangement may be electrically and logisticallycoupled with the one or more control lines between the upstream portionand the downstream portion. The control system may also include anexternal module configured to be physically located substantiallyoutside of the housing, and further configured to be electrically andlogistically coupled with the internal module. The external module mayinclude a signal receiving device capable of receiving at least onewireless control signal from the controlling photographic device, and topass at least one second control signal to the downstream portion of thecontrollable device via the internal module in order to effect apredetermined output by the controllable photographic device.

The at least one second control signal may be generated by the externalmodule, and or the internal module, and may be modified by one or bothmodules and/or received by one or more components on either or bothmodules wherein the same or other components on either or both modulesmay send one or more corresponding signals in response thereto. In somecases the external module and the internal module may be configured topass the at least one wireless control signal, and/or the wirelesscontrol signal converted for a wired, and/or optical transmissionessentially unchanged to the downstream portion of the downstreamportion of the controllable device in order to effect the predeterminedoutput.

The upstream portion may include, but may not be limited to elementsincluded in the device circuitry. The elements may be configured toaccept, and/or process and/or pass through an input from a user, orother driver of an action, such as, for example, the pressing of abutton or the adjustment of a setting, or the like. The downstreamportion may include, but may not be limited to elements included in thedevice circuitry that may be configured to perform, or cause to beperformed, those actions called for by the upstream elements, such as,for example, an increase/decrease in a flash power output, or the like.

In some embodiments, the controllable photographic device, and thecontrollable device circuit, may begin as a preconfigured piece ofproprietary photographic equipment designed and/or manufactured by afirst company. In some cases, a second company may modify thepreconfigured piece of proprietary photographic equipment by couplingthe internal module with the controllable device circuit.

In some cases, the controlling photographic device may be a camera, andthe controllable photographic device may be a light source. In somecases the controlling photographic device may be any signal transmittingdevice that may be capable of transmitting at least one wireless controlsignal. In some cases the signal transmitting device may be coupled withand/or mounted on a camera.

In some cases, the controllable photographic device, may be one or morecontrollable photographic devices selected from the group consisting of:a still photographic camera, a video cameras, a motion film camera, acamera flash unit, a studio strobe unit, a power flash pack, a constantlighting unit “hot light”, an LED array unit, a camera, a light meter, alighting positioning apparatus, a camera positioning apparatus, amicrophone, an audio monitor speaker, head phones, a sound mixing board,an electronic music instrument, audio filtering hardware, videofiltering hardware, stage effects, visual effects, pyrotechnicprocessing equipment, and a pyrotechnic control system.

The internal module may include a processor configured to execute one ormore instructions, each of the one or more instructions may beconfigured to cause the controllable photographic device to executecorresponding preselected actions. The external module may includes amemory for storing a license key, the license key configured todetermine which if any of the preselected one or more instructions areauthorized to be executed.

The external module may include a coupling configured to couple with acomputing device. The coupling may be, for example a USB socket, or thelike.

The control system may also include one or more discontinuitiesrespectively formed on the one or more control lines between theupstream portion and the downstream portion. The signal directingarrangement may include a first group of one or more lines respectivelycoupled to the one or more control lines between the upstream portionand the one or more discontinuities. The signal directing arrangementmay also include a second group of one or more lines respectivelycoupled to the one or more control lines between the downstream portionand the one or more discontinuities. The one or more discontinuities maybe formed in the one or more control lines by, for example the secondcompany. The one or more discontinuities may be formed as one or moretrace cuts in a printed circuit board including the device circuit, oras one or more cuts in one or more wires, or cables or the like.

The control system may also include a switching arrangement electricallydisposed between the first group of one or more lines and the secondgroup of one or more lines. The switching arrangement may be configuredto selectively connect either the upstream portion to the downstreamportion, or the external module to the downstream portion.

In some cases, the controllable photographic device may be a pluralityof controllable photographic devices, each from a particular one of twoor more subsets of controllable photographic devices. Each subset ofcontrollable photographic devices may have one or more subset specificfeatures that may differ from one or more features from another subsetof controllable photographic devices. The internal module may be aplurality of internal modules each from a particular one of two or moresubsets of internal modules. Each member of a particular subset ofinternal modules may include subset specific features configured foroperable compatibility with any member of a corresponding subset ofcontrollable photographic devices. In addition, the external module maybe a plurality of external modules each configured to electrically andlogistically couple with any internal module regardless of which subsetof internal modules the internal module may be a member of.

Embodiments may also provide a photography system. The photographysystem may include a first set of first control modules including two ormore first module subsets comprised of individual first control modulemembers. Each first control module member may have subset specificfeatures configured for operable coupling with any member from acorresponding subset of controllable photographic devices. Thephotography system may also include a second set of second controlmodules each substantially identically configured and each configured toelectrically and logistically couple with any first control modulemember regardless of which of the two or more first module subsets thefirst control module is a member of. Each of the second control modulesmay be configured to receive one or more first control signals from acontrolling photographic device and to send a corresponding one or moresecond control signals, based on receipt of the one or more firstcontrol signals, to the controllable photographic device member via thefirst control module that the second control module is coupled with.

Each controllable photographic device may include device circuitry thatmay have an upstream portion and a downstream portion. Each firstcontrol module may be coupled to a corresponding controllablephotographic device between the upstream portion and the downstreamportion. The one or more second control signals may be sent to thedownstream portion and may be configured to be interpreted by thedownstream portion as if the one or more second control signals had beensent by the upstream portion.

Each controllable photographic device may include a housing. One of thefirst control modules may be located substantially within the housing,and one of the second control modules may be located substantiallyoutside of the housing.

The photography system may also include a connector disposed within anopening in the housing of at least one controllable photographic device.The connector may be electrically and/or logistically coupled at aninterior side thereof to the one of the first control modules, and theconnector may include a socketed exterior side for socketed couplingwith any of the second control modules.

Some embodiments may provide a preconfigured controllable photographicdevice modification. The controllable photographic device may be of thetype having preconfigured device circuitry having an upstream portioncoupled to a downstream portion via one or more control lines. Themodification may include a wireless signal receiving arrangementconfigured to recognize receipt of a control signal from a controllingdevice. The modification may also include a signal directing arrangementcoupled with the one or more control lines between the upstream portionand the downstream portion. The signal directing arrangement may beconfigured to send an arrangement generated signal to the downstreamportion upon receipt of the control signal from the controlling device.The arrangement generated signal may be configured to elicit apredetermined response from the controllable photographic device whereinthe arrangement generated signal may be interpreted by the downstreamportion as a preconfigured device signal sent from the upstream portion.

The modification may also include a signal line intercept arrangementcoupled with the one or more control lines, and configured to interceptpreconfigured device signals intended to pass from the upstream portionto the downstream portion via the one or more control lines.

The signal line intercept arrangement may be further configured toreceive one or more state signals from the downstream portion indicativeof a state the downstream portion is in.

The signal line intercept arrangement may also be configured to send acorresponding state signal to the upstream portion to achieve a statecorrespondence between the downstream portion and the upstream portion.

The modification may also include one or more discontinuitiesrespectively formed in the one or more control lines. A first set of oneor more signal lines may be respectively coupled to the one or morecontrol lines between the upstream portion and the one or morediscontinuities. A second set of one or more signal lines may berespectively coupled to the one or more control lines between thedownstream portion and the one or more discontinuities.

In some embodiments, the controlling device may be a camera, and thecontrollable device may be a light source. In some embodiments, thecontrollable device may be a still photographic camera, a video camera,a motion film camera, a camera flash unit, a studio strobe unit, a powerflash pack, a constant lighting unit “hot light”, an LED array unit, acamera, a light meter, a lighting positioning apparatus, a camerapositioning apparatus, a microphone, an audio monitor speaker, headphones, a sound mixing board, an electronic music instrument, audiofiltering hardware, video filtering hardware, stage effects, visualeffects, pyrotechnic processing equipment, or a pyrotechnic controlsystem.

The signal directing arrangement may be substantially may be included inan internal module physically located within an external case of thecontrollable device. The modification may include an external modulecoupled with an external surface of the external case, the externalmodule configured to receive the control signal from the controllingdevice and to send a corresponding signal to the internal module.

The internal module may be a first internal module and may be a memberof a first internal module subset. Each member of the first internalmodule subset may include first internal module features configured foroperable coupling with a first subset of controllable photographicdevice. The modification may also include a second internal module,wherein the second internal module may be a member of a second internalmodule subset. Each member of the second internal module subset mayinclude second internal module features configured for operable couplingwith a second subset of controllable photographic device. The firstinternal module features may be different than the second internalmodule features. The external module may be two or more external moduleseach configured to logically and electrically couple with either thefirst or the second internal modules.

Various embodiments may provide a method of enabling anintercommunication protocol between one or more controlling photographicdevices and two or more controllable photographic devices, wherein thetwo or more controllable photographic devices may include a mix of atleast a first design type of controllable device and a second designtype of controllable device. The method may include: configuring a firstset of internal modules each to be electrically and logistically coupledwith one or more controllable photographic devices of the first designtype; configuring a second set of internal modules each to beelectrically and logistically coupled with one or more controllablephotographic devices of the second design type; configuring each of aplurality of external modules to receive a wireless control signal fromthe one or more controlling photographic devices; and furtherconfiguring each of the plurality of external modules to be electricallyand logistically coupled with any internal module from either the firstset of internal modules or the second set of internal modules in orderto enable a module control signal to be sent from the internal modulecoupled with external module to the controllable photographic uponreceipt of the wireless control signal by the external module.

The first control signal may be a one or more wireless control signals.The second control signal may be one or more signals transmitted througha wired, or a wireless connection.

The system may utilize and/or generate a number of control signals. Afirst control signal may be one or more wireless control signals sentfrom (or received by) the controlling device to (or from) the externalmodule. A second signal may be a first module signal sent from (orreceived by) the external module to (or from) the internal module. Athird signal may be a second module signal sent from (or received by)the internal module to (or from) either upstream or the downstreamportions of the device circuit. A fourth signal may be called a devicesignal and may include signals the upstream and downstream portions maysend and/or receive to and from each other, or other componentsdescribed herein. In addition status signals may be sent between thecomponents described herein.

The controllable photographic devices may include a device circuitincluding an upstream portion connected to a downstream portion by oneor more control lines. The controllable photographic device may beconfigured such that a device signal sent from, or passing from, theupstream side to the downstream side may elicit a response from thecontrollable device.

In some cases the method may also include configuring each of theinternal modules to include a processing device to generate the modulecontrol signal; including a signal directing arrangement in each of theinternal modules wherein the signal directing arrangement connects theprocessing device to the downstream portion of the device circuitry; andconfiguring the external module to query a status state of thecontrollable device via the internal module, and to save results of thequery with the processing device. The status state may be one of abattery level, an ambient temperature of the controllable device, and arecycle state.

The method may also include determining a signal pattern preconfiguredto be sent from the upstream portion to the downstream portion and/orfrom the downstream portion to the upstream portion, saving the signalpattern with the processing device, and at a later time using the signalpattern elicit the response from the controllable device.

In some cases, the method may also include forming a discontinuity alongone or more control lines included in a device circuit of each of thecontrollable photographic devices. The one or more control lines, priorto the forming of the discontinuity, may connect an upstream portion toa downstream portion of the device circuitry such that, prior to theforming of the discontinuity, a device signal sent from, or passingfrom, the upstream side to the downstream side may elicit a responsefrom the controllable device. The method may also include coupling oneof the internal modules to the one or more control lines between theupstream side and the downstream side.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings, when considered in connection with the followingdescription, are presented for the purpose of facilitating anunderstanding of the subject matter sought to be protected.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a system forcontrolling a photographic peripheral device;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example Internal Module (IM) than maybe included in the system illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3-5 are perspective views illustrating how an Internal Module (IM)may be installed into a controllable device;

FIGS. 6 & 7 are perspective views illustrating how an Internal Module(IM) may be installed into a controllable device with the externalcasing of the controllable device removed for clarity;

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view illustrating an example ExternalModule (EM);

FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view illustrating the example ExternalModule (EM) shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an External Module (EM) aboutto couple with an Internal Module (IM) installed inside a controllabledevice via respective connectors;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating an External Module (EM)coupled with an Internal Module (IM) installed inside the controllabledevice via respective connectors;

FIGS. 12 and 13 are perspective exploded views illustrating variousexample subassemblies that may be assembled to form an example EM;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an example system in accordance withthe current disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the camera in the system shown in FIG.14 illustrating some additional features of the system;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of an example system wherein a pluralityof example controllable devices are daisy chained together by wires orcords, and wherein a single EM may be configured to communicate with andcontrol all or most of the controllable devices each having an IMinstalled therein;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating an example electrical layout ofthe IM;

FIG. 18 is a schematic view illustrating an example electrical layout ofthe EM;

FIG. 19 is a schematic view illustrating an example circuitryconfiguration wherein circuitry from the IM may be coupled withcircuitry of a controllable device;

FIG. 20 is a schematic view illustrating another example circuitryconfiguration wherein circuitry from the IM may be coupled withcircuitry of a controllable device;

FIG. 21 is a schematic view illustrating another example circuitryconfiguration wherein circuitry from the IM may be coupled withcircuitry of a controllable device;

FIG. 22 is an exploded perspective view of an example installation of anAuxiliary Module in accordance with the current disclosure;

FIG. 23 is an exploded perspective view of the installation illustratedin FIG. 22 shown from a different direction;

FIG. 24 is a perspective view of the installation illustrated in FIG. 22shown from a different direction;

FIG. 25 is an exploded view of an Internal Module installed external tocontrollable device showing signal lines routed to an interior of acontrollable device;

FIG. 26 is an exploded view of a battery powered flash installed on anInternal Module or an Auxiliary Module on the exterior surface of a handheld flash unit;

FIG. 27 is an alternative view of the example installation illustratedin FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing a battery powered flash installed;

FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate Device attached toan External Module;

FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate device showingattachment of an External Module;

FIG. 31 is an exploded view of an Intermediate device showing internalparts;

FIG. 32 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate Device using adata port for communication with a controlled device;

FIG. 33 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate Device using aSync Port for communication with a controlled device;

FIG. 34 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate Device using adata port to a hot shoe for communicating with a camera mountable flashusing a data port to communicate data signals to or from the datacontacts provided by the hot shoe of the camera mountable flash;

FIG. 35 is a perspective view showing an Intermediate Device usingoptical signals for communicating with a controlled device, such ascoded digital pulses and/or trigger pulses;

FIG. 36 is an exploded view showing combined functioning of an externaldevice coupled a controllable device;

FIG. 37 is an exploded view showing combined functioning of an externaldevice coupled a controllable device showing internals and components;and

FIG. 38 is a perspective view showing an external device installed on acontrollable device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present system, devices and methods are described withreference to several illustrative embodiments described herein, itshould be clear that the present invention should not be limited to suchembodiments. Therefore, the description of the embodiments providedherein is illustrative of the present invention and should not limit thescope of the invention as claimed. In addition, while the followingdescription references drawings showing particular configurations andproportions, it will be appreciated that the invention may be configuredto have other configurations and proportions.

The description may use perspective-based descriptions such as up/down,back/front, and top/bottom. Such descriptions are merely used tofacilitate the discussion and are not intended to restrict theapplication of embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram generally illustrating an example system10 for controlling a piece of controllable equipment, such ascontrollable device 20, in accordance with the current disclosure. Thesystem 10 may be configured to include two primary physical componentassemblies 50, 100 which, when electrically connected to each other, mayform a circuit 9. The circuit 9 may be capable of: sending or receivingsubstantially useful status or control data or other signals tocharacteristic electrical connections inside the controllable device 20;sending or receiving signals by radio frequency; drawing primaryoperating power for both assemblies 50, 100 from a source internal tothe controllable device 20; providing a coupling by which twomicroprocessors, one located on the first component assembly 50, and onelocated on the second component assembly 100 may communicate informationor control signals between each other. The first component assembly 50may be referred to as an “Internal Module”, or “IM” 50, and the secondcomponent assembly 100 may be referred to as an “External Module”, or“EM” 100.

The EM 100 may be coupled for communication with a controlling device 1,such as a camera for example, via respective antennas 103 and 3. The EM100 may communicate with the controlling device 1 using for example datapackets 15, 12 sent by, for example, radio waves.

In some cases the one or both of the component assemblies 50, 100 mayhave a means of recording a digital serial number; and one or both ofthe component assemblies 50, 100 may include software capable ofreferencing individual functions to a table of license keys. The list offunctions and/or the license keys may be stored on either or both of thecomponent assemblies 50, 100.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an example physical layout ofan IM 50, and FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating an exampleelectrical layout of the IM 50. The IM 50 may include circuitry 55designed to handle characteristic input and output signals used by aspecific make and model of controllable device 20, and signals used byan External Module, EM 100

The internal module 50 may be configured to have a specific size, andspecific signaling capabilities, in order to physically, electrically,and logically couple with a given make and model of controllable device20.

The IM 50 may include I/O and signaling hardware 55 required tointerface with any desired number of functions inside the controllabledevice 20. The amount of hardware 55 may be minimal and may besubstantially customized in order to minimize at least material costsassociated with the IM 50 portion of the system. The IM 50 may includeelectrical connections 51 which when installed may connect to anappropriate characteristic power source 60 which may be internal to thecontrollable device 20. The power source 60 may be the primary powersupply. In some cases, the IM 50 may be provided with a battery powersupply, or a charged capacitor, or the like, for its own primaryoperating power, for backup power to retain settings, or to wake from apower down mode when the primary power source internal to thecontrollable device is not available. Backup power supply is notdepicted in the FIGS, although providing a backup power is possiblewithout departing from scope of the present disclosure. The IM 50 mayalso include a voltage regulator 53.

FIGS. 3-7 are perspective views illustrating how an IM 50 may beinstalled into a controllable device 20. In FIGS. 6 and 7, the externalcasing of the controllable device 20 is removed for clarity. FIGS. 3-7also illustrate how the IM 50 may be electrically coupled with thecontrollable device 20, and with an external connector 40. FIG. 7 alsoshows how an EM 100 may couple with the external connector 40.

The Internal Module 50 may include a first set of pads or connectors 48(FIG. 2) which may be used to connect wires 51 or other electricalconductor connectors or pins. The IM 50 may include a suite of I/O orsignaling lines 51 which may be used to electrically connect to variouscharacteristic electrical locations inside the controllable device 20via the first set of pads or connectors 48. The figures of thisdisclosure generally depict only four signal lines 51, though dependingon the complexity of the controllable device, more or fewer lines may beused. Some embodiments may require a hundred or more conductors 51 tointerface with the desired signals or data busses within thecontrollable device 20.

The IM 50 may also include a second set of pads or connectors 49 (FIG.2) which may attach to the internal side of the external connector 40directly or via wires 52. The external connector 40 may penetrate thephysical enclosure of the controllable device 20, and may provide aconvenient point of attachment for an EM 100. The EM 100 may then beconnected to the exterior of the controllable device 20. The IM 50 maysupply power to the EM 100 via specified characteristic pins on theexterior connector 40. The connector 40 may be an electrical pressureconnector 40.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are respective front and rear perspective viewsillustrating an example physical layout of the EM 100. FIG. 10 and FIG.11 are perspective views respectively illustrating an EM 100 about tocouple with and coupled with the IM 50 via connectors 101 and 40. FIGS.12 and 13 are perspective exploded views illustrating various examplesubassemblies that may be assembled to form an example EM 100.

The conductors 52 of the IM 50 may exit the exterior enclosure of thecontrollable device 20 via pressure connector 40, to which mating part101 may be easily joined. The pressure connector 40 may be capable ofholding several ounces to several pounds of stress withoutdisconnecting. This may make it possible to securely mount the EM 100 tothe exterior of the controllable device 20 without any need ofadditional connectors or adhesion. In some examples, connectors 101, 40,and/or physical enclosures of an EM 100 and controllable device 20 mayinclude a magnet and a material to which the magnet is attracted,whereby the connectors 101 and 40 may be held in contact with each otherby the magnetic attraction between the devices, instead of, or inaddition to, the pressure connector 40. Any other connector may be usedsuch that a multi conductor cord may be connected between the connector40 and the EM 100.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an example a system 10 in accordancewith the current disclosure, and FIG. 15 is a perspective view of thecamera 1 in the system 10 illustrating some additional features of thesystem 10. The system 10 may include first and second controllabledevices 20 each having an EM 100 coupled thereon. Each of thecontrollable devices 20 may also have an IM 50 (not visible in thefigure) installed therein and operatively coupled with the EMs 100. Thesystem 10 may include a camera 1, or camera system, configured as acontrolling device, having a wireless controller 75 mounted to it andconfigured to communicate with the EM 100 via data packets 12, 15. Otherexample systems may include any number of controllable devices 20.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view illustrating an example electrical layout ofthe EM 100. Referring now to FIGS. 17 and 18, the conductors 52 betweenthe IM 50 and EM 100 via the external connector 40, and connector 101,may include one or more of the following: a common ground, negativereference, voltage source 121 that may be capable of sourcing anycurrent required by the EM 100, an immediate action trigger line 59, anda serial data communication means which may be in the form of any of aSerial Peripheral Interface (“SPI”), I squared ‘C’, (“I2C”), UniversalSerial Bus (“USB”), FireWire (“IEEE”), parallel interface, RS-232, orother serial communication protocol including any non-standardproprietary signaling protocols. The EM 100 may also include a radiomodule 116, a software license key module 112, 113, and in some cases acommunication coupling with a computer system such as a USB port 102.

A crypto/software license key module, when present in some embodiments,may also include any combination of the following parts as appropriate.Note the parts listed may perform slightly different functions, some mayfunction as memories, some may be designed to hold permanent keys, somemay be designed to purely authenticate an internal part to an externalpart, etc. Various levels of authentication and/or key storage may becarried out depending on the specific arrangement of the devices.

In some cases parts identified with the following part numbers may beused in various arrangements in place of items 57, 58, 112, and 113 inthe specification: AT88SC018, AT88SC0404CA, AT88SA100S, AT88SA102S, andAT88SA10HS. The part ending in “CA” may be used to securely storedigital keys. All are currently available commercially from AtmelCorporation.

The EM 100 may include a processing suite that may include a processingdevice such as a microprocessor 110. Similarly, the IM 50 may include aprocessing suite that may include a processing device such as amicroprocessor 54. The processing suite may enable the EM 100 tocommunicate with the processing suite of the IM 50 using variouscommunication methods, for example a characteristic pattern of digitalor analog signals.

One example communication method may use digital parallel or serialstandards, interfaces, or protocols such as SPI, I2C, RS-232, or thelike. Using serial busses, for example, may provide sufficient speed forthe intended application and may require fewer conductor pins on theexternal connectors 40 and 101 compared to parallel busses.

A protocol may be devised, according to the current disclosure, wherebyan EM 100 may command a wide range of possible signals, controls, oroutcomes to an IM 50. The processing suite 54 of the IM 50 may then acton those commands from the EM 100 by activating the equipment specificI/O portions 55 of the IM 50 which may cause a desired response from thecontrollable device 20.

For example, if a given photographic light 20 is responsive to twoanalog voltages for setting its power or brightness level, one analogvoltage may set the amount of light to be emitted by a xenon flash tube22 when the photograph is taken, and the other analog voltage may setthe brightness of a constant-on modeling lamp 21.

In one of many possible examples, a protocol may be devised forcommunication between the MCU 110 of an EM 100 and the MCU 54 of an IM50. The protocol may use an 8-bit command followed by a 16-bit argument.The first byte, may be a possible value between 0 and 255, and mayrepresent a command. Let's assume the values 200 through 209 arereserved to command the setting of up to 10 different analog voltagelines. Lets also assume the 16 bit argument represents the desiredset-point of the voltage in millivolts, thus a voltage of between 0 and65,535 millivolts may be commanded, which may translate to a voltagebetween 0 and 65 volts with very high precision. Let's assume thecommand 200 is always referenced to a primary power emission voltagereference, and the command 201 is always referenced to a modeling lampsetting voltage reference.

For example, if it is desired to set the primary light emission powerreference to a level of 3.8 volts, a command of 200 sent as an 8-bitbinary sequence, followed by the 16-bit binary sequence representationof the integer 3800 may be sent. If the protocol sent a packet of 3bytes from the MCU 110 of the EM to the MCU 54 of the IM via signallines 52 and external connectors 40 and 101 as follows:

200, 14, 216 (or, in binary: 11001000, 00001110, 11011000; and inhexadecimal: 0x0C80ED8),

then the MCU 54 of the IM 50 may know to drive its output referenced toa given set of pins corresponding to the voltage to which the main flashemission power level of the controllable device 20 may be responsive.The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may also use a digital to analog converter 55 tocreate a voltage of 3800 millivolts which is equal to 3.8 volts.

In a similar way, as another example, 8-bit commands from 210 to 219could represent the same voltages, but instead, those commands may takean 8-bit argument corresponding to a percentage of minimum to maximumpower. So if it was desired to set the light emission power of the mainflash tube to 50% of its total possible level, a packet of two bytescould be sent as follows:

210, 128

The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may be specifically programmed with the minimumand maximum levels of the characteristic signals used to drive the givencontrollable device and thus, it may know that a reference voltage of 5volts causes the light to emit at full power, while a reference voltageof 0 volts causes the light to not emit light at all. The MCU 54 maythen receive the above short packet and calculate that 128 is 50% of255, and a reference voltage that would force the controllable device toemit at 50% power would be 2.5 volts. The IM 50 may then cause itsdigital to analog components 55 to create the required 2.5 voltsreference voltage.

It is also noted that even if the same EM 100 is attached to acompletely different model of controllable device 20 which has installedan IM 50 which has various I/O components 55 configured to communicatewith this different design of controllable device 20, such as, forexample, a different model of light, the same command and argument bytesequences described above, when sent from the EM 100 may still producethe same desired result within the different controllable device. TheMCU 54 of the IM 50 installed in the different controllable device maybe programmed such that the same commands would be able to logicallyproduce the desired signaling within the different controllable deviceto achieve the desired effect or function.

As discussed, various embodiments may implement a protocol of shortpackets or commands which may be used to drive any of, for example, 10analog voltages to exact voltages, or a voltage representative of thedesired power setting of the controllable device. Thus, using a protocolas discussed above, a single EM 100 may have the ability to communicatedata streams and commands that may be useful to a multitude of differentspecific IMs 50 which may be installed in different kinds ofcontrollable device, even if those different kinds of controllabledevice are not generally compatible with each other.

It may also be possible to key certain commands sent from an MCU 110 ofan EM 100 to query specific values within an IM 50, or values within acontrollable device 20 which has an IM 50 installed. For example, maybethe command “001” is a general query command, and accepts a one byteargument which could represent up to 256 different values that could bequeried. This may make it possible to query up to 256 sensors, setpoints, or status levels present inside the controllable device. It maybe possible that the argument is also keyed to certain characteristicvalues or status states.

Value 1 may be, for example, a status as to whether or not the light isfully recycled after a previous activation which may report a level of255 if fully recycled, and if not fully cycled, may report a numberbetween 0 and 254 representing a percentage of the current recycle.

Value 2 may be a request as to the estimated time in milliseconds beforea recycle is complete.

Value 10 may be a battery level in a set of batteries controlling thedevice—such as the percentage of charge of a set of 4 AA batteries in acamera strobe unit.

Value 100 may be an internal ambient temperature sensor, value 105 maybe a temperature sensor on the xenon tube, and value 115 may be thecurrent rotational speed of a cooling fan reported in revolutions perminute.

Thus, for example, the EM 100 may request of the IM 50 the estimatedtime until fully recycled by sending the packet:

001, 002

The first byte may tell the IM 50 that the EM 100 is making a query, andthe second byte may tell the IM 50 a recycle time estimate is requested.The IM 50 may then use its hardware specific components 55 to perform ananalog to digital conversion of a voltage that may be currently storedin a power capacitor within the controllable device. And because thesoftware of the MCU 54 of the IM 50 may be specifically written to thecharacteristics of the given controllable device, the MCU 54 of the IM50 may know that the capacitor takes about 100 milliseconds to chargefrom its current voltage to its maximum voltage and thus may report backto the EM 100 a value of “100” in a single byte.

This value may be useful in that it may be sent back via the radiomodule 116 in the EM 100 to the wireless controller 75 coupled with thecamera 1, or camera system 10. The camera system 10 may know to scheduleits next shutter release in approximately 100 milliseconds. This may beuseful in the event of high speed shooting where many shutteractivations are required in short succession. If another value isqueried such as the RPM speed of a cooling fan of a controllable device,that value may be sent back by radio signal from the EM 100 to thewireless controller 75, or communication facility, of a camera system10. In some example embodiments the controller 75 may be considered acommunication facility, and may be configured to display the returnedvalue on a display 13, that may be included in on the wirelesscontroller 75, where the camera operator may easily view the real-timestatus of the cooling fan.

It is thus clear that virtually any characteristic of a controllabledevice 20 may be queried, and virtually any signal to which thecontrollable device is responsive may be created using hardware 55 andsoftware on an MCU 54 specific to that piece of controllable device 20by an IM 50, and it may be possible to devise simple digital datasignals which may be passed between the EM 100 and IM 50 which maycorrelate to those query and control signals.

The processing suite or MCU 110 of the EM 100 may receive communicationsignals from the radio receiver 116, or transceiver 116, and may alsotransmit signals to the radio transmitter 116 or transceiver 116. Itmay, therefore, be possible to further extend the logic of an exampleprotocol to be bridged over the radio reception or transmit facility 116of the EM 100.

It may then be an easy matter, according to various embodiments, to fita camera or other device with a radio transmitter or transceiver unit75. The radio transmitter unit 75 may then use the devised protocol toelicit desired results or query desired data from various controllabledevices 20 fitted with an EM 100 and IM 50 in accordance with thecurrent disclosure.

A given example IM 50 of the present invention may be designed for aspecific make and model of controllable device 20. The IM 50 may beconfigured to have access to certain controls, sensors, or other usefulfacilities included with the controllable device 20. The MCU 110 of anEM 100 may be configured, via its communication link with the IM 20, todetermine what some or all of these features are, for example, theexpected min and max set points of certain parameters and the like.

The IM 50 may include an equipment type identification number, hereafter“Equipment Type ID” or “EQID.” The EQID may identify the make and modelof a particular controllable device in which it is installed. Forexample, a given model of flash unit may be assigned an EQID of“123123.” Every IM which is designed for use with this particular modelof flash will report its EQID as “123123.” The EQID may be sufficientlylong to insure a large number of devices can be identified. For example,a 32-bit EQID may allow over 4.2 billion specific models of controllabledevice to exist worldwide, and may only require 4 bytes of memory spaceto store locally and in various reference profiles.

When an EM 100 is connected to the controllable device 20, acommunication between the EM and the IM installed in the equipment maybe initiated, for example as discussed above. The IM 50 may report itsEQID to the EM 100. The EM 100 may then reference a list of profilesstored in its own memory to look up the expected characteristics of thisparticular controllable device 20. The EM 100 may also report back byradio signals via a radio module 116 wirelessly to other portions of thelighting equipment the specific make and model of controllable device 20which just became available to the overall lighting system.

The EM 100 may have a pre-programmed list of all the features expectedto be available on every current IM 50 it may possibly encounter storedin its internal memory, or it may report the reported EQID back viaradio signals to another device such as a personal computer or othermaster control device 75 which may be capable of looking up the EQID inits own stored list of profiles, or making a query via network or theinternet to retrieve the specific profile from a remote database server.The parameters and specifications used to communicate with the specificIM 50 may then be returned to the EM 100 which may then store theparameters and may begin having a useful communication with the specificIM 50.

The EM 100 may also include a Hardware Identification Number (hereafter“Hardware ID” or “HID”), which may be unique to that specific EM 100 andnot duplicated in any other EM 100. The EM 100 may be programmed toallow the use of certain licensed features available to the IM 50. Thoselicensed features may be keyed to the HID of the particular EM 100.

Various embodiments may enable controllable device 20 manufactures tointroduce new features and functionality made possible with theirdevices and newly available upon paying a license to use them. Thelicense-able features, or functions, may be made available forpredetermined trial periods.

A simple lookup table may be included in the memory on the EM 100 whichmay store a list of all currently active EQIDs, and a set of flags orbinary bits for each EQID, each flag or bit representing a given usefulor licensed function that the IM 50 may be able to enable the givencontrollable device to perform. A 64-bit flag space may be configured toallow 64 different features to be allowed or disallowed by a given IM 50for a specific controllable device. A lookup table stored in a memory inan EM 100 may then require, using the above example, 12 bytes of spacefor each model of controllable device which it may come in contactwith—that is, 4 bytes for the EQID, and 8 bytes for the 64 individualbit flags representing licensed features.

Many current microprocessors include 2K bytes or more of EEPROM memoryright on the microprocessor. This may make it possible for more than 160profiles of controllable device to be recorded, and far more if thenumber of flag bits is reduced, or additional EEPROM is added.

The EM 100 may be capable of communicating directly with a personalcomputer or other device capable of communicating with a computernetwork such as the internet via a wired USB connection using a providedconnector 102 on the EM 100, or wirelessly through some other protocolsuch as BlueTooth, WiFi, a pulsed light Infrared protocol such as IrDAand so on; such that the EM may be in communication with a remotedatabase either directly or via some intermediate computer system, WiFiwireless access point, etc.

The EM 100 may include a unique HID. This HID may correspond to a recordin a database on a licensing computer server located on a computernetwork. The record may be keyed to every currently manufactured EQID,and all of the 64 licensing bit flags which are keyed to each EQID.

For this disclosure, “license keys,” “bit flags,” “license bits,” “keyflags,” and the like, are used to describe the above discussed binarybits which may correspond to licenses to allow an EM 100 to authorize anIM 50 to carry out certain functions which correspond to the issuing ofa license to carry out those functions.

In communication with a licensing server, it may be possible to enablecertain license key flags which are referenced uniquely to a given EM100 for a certain set of controlled equipment. Each model ofcontrollable device may be referenced by the EQID of that controllabledevice, and each EQID may have a set of flags or license bits. Each setof license bits may represent an authorization or license to perform agiven function by the IM specific to the given model of controllabledevice matching the given EQID.

The license flag bits found in the remote database corresponding to thegiven EM 100 having the given HID, and corresponding to a specific makeand model of controllable device 20 by the EQID of that controllabledevice 20 may be synchronized with the lookup table stored in the EM100. The flag bits may represent licenses for IMs 50 having the givenEQID to perform specific functions, and those licenses may be in effectstored and carried by an end user on an EM 100.

If a user wishes to obtain use of a given feature of a givencontrollable device 20, which may have an installed IM 50 therein, theuser may pay for the license to use said feature and report the HID ofthe EM 100 that will carry the license. The flag for the newly purchasedfeature may be set for the desired EQID corresponding to the given HIDof the given EM 100 in the remote database. The user may then allow theEM 100 to synchronize with the remote database as described above, andthe new license flag for the newly purchased license may be set in thelookup table for the given EQID in the memory of the EM 100.

When the particular EM 100 is attached to a controllable device 20containing an IM 50 with the EQID and hardware 55 giving capability ofthe newly purchased feature, the IM 50 may report its EQID to the EM100. The EM 100 may look up that EQID in its stored reference table, andreport back all the flag bits for the enabled features. In this case, aflag bit may be set for the purchased feature. The IM 50 may thenexecute commands to perform the specific functions for which theappropriate license flag bits have been set, and may not execute thecommands for which the appropriate licensing flag bits have not beenset.

It may be possible a malicious user may attempt to gain access tofunctions of the IM 50 which are licensed by the manufacturer by studyof the electrical circuits of the IM 50. Such a user may further attemptto write a firmware capable of being executed by the MCU 54 which mayactivate the electrical circuits even if a valid license was notrequested from an EM 100. The user may even attempt to circulate thisfirmware on the Internet causing loss of control of the licensingsystem. Accordingly, various embodiments may provide various securitymeasures to avoid such actions by potential malicious users. Forexample, embodiments may write various software keys or specific serialnumbers onto the MCU 54 of a given IM 50 at the time of manufacture. Thekeys may only be known to an EM 100, and software developers.

When the EM 100 is first attached to the controllable device 20 andbegins to communicate with the IM 50, the EM 100 may request these knownserial numbers, which may have been written at specific known locationsin the memory space of the MCU 54 of the IM 50. If the EM 100 does notreceive the expected response, it may stop communicating with the IM 50and may report an error to the user by radio signal or output directlyon the EM 100. These preset data and preset locations may not be knownto the creator of the unauthorized firmware and may be likely to beover-written when programming the unauthorized firmware, thusdiscouraging the practice of attempting to circumvent the licensingsystem.

Conversations between the EM 100 and the IM 50 may be encrypted duringconversations exchanging license key flags between the EM 100 and the IM50. Encrypted communication between the MCU 110 of the EM 100 and theMCU 54 of the IM 50 may be established prior to exchangingidentification numbers or data representing the authorized feature setsor flag bits.

The encryption process may be carried out using, for example, standardshared key AES type encryption. The encryption and decryption processmay be carried out by hardware peripherals built into either amicroprocessor, or may be carried out using a few lines of computer codeeasily constructed by the software developer. The process of shared keyencryption requires minimal additional latency or overhead by the MCUand may not cause significant delays to the throughput of the requireddata transmission. This in effect may make the conversation of theexchange of license keys useless to any person or system observing theconversation.

This disclosure describes the EM 100 of the present invention as beingthe primary device used to record license flag bits, and that EM 100being the device which authorizes an IM 50 to perform given functionsbased upon the presence or lack of presence of given license flag bits,but it should be noted it is possible to implement the licensingfacility in various other patterns.

For example, the IM 50 could alternately be used to record license flagbits, or flag bits which may be temporarily stored on an EM 100 and thenpassed to an IM 50 during a handshake or other communication between anEM 100 and an IM 50. It may be possible that an IM 50 may allow anyfunction to which it has controls to operate regardless of flag bits.The EM 100 itself may determine which features it is allowed to directlycause to operate, and so on.

Embodiments may enable the system to record authorizations to performlicensed features in other ways, such as storing an entire byte insteadof a single bit, or storing a complex system of bytes that maycorrespond to an actual license number rather than a single bitrepresenting the authorization to use such a feature.

Embodiments may enable the system to record with the license flag, bit,byte, or bytes, a criteria relating to an allowed time of use, requiredrenewal, number of authorized uses, and so on. For example, a licenseflag may be set to allow a feature, but the feature may have a period oftime preset, such as 30 calendar days before that license flag will nolonger be valid; or using a real time calendar facility in the IM 50 orEM 100, a given feature may be valid until a specific calendar date andtime. In another case, a license flag may be stored with, or separatelyrelated to, a count of the number of times a feature may be activated.For example, a particularly useful polling of controllable device 20 maybe authorized as something of a “free trial” on newly purchased devices,the user being able to poll the remote devices, for example, twentytimes before the flag is no longer valid and a license must be purchasedor renewed to continue using the feature. It is also possible toauthorize features purely on a “pay per use” basis, whereby the numberof uses may be recorded, and an owed amount of money for the use of suchfeatures may be calculated by a computer system during a synchronizationprocess between a device of the present disclosure and a computersystem.

The Internal Module IM 50 may be configured to send or receive signalsto or from components internal to a controllable device 20. Thecontrollable device 20 may be any of many possible devices including butnot limited to still photographic cameras, video cameras, motion filmcameras, camera flash units, studio strobe units, power flash packs,constant lighting unit “hot light”, LED array units, or any otherequipment used to create light to assist in the illumination of a scenefor still or motion photography; any other equipment used to recordlight from a scene such as any kind of camera or light meter; any kindof lighting or camera positioning equipment such as systems drivingcameras on tracks, height positioning, yaw, tilt, and zoom controllers;any kind of auxiliary equipment used in the field of audio, video, orphotography including but not limited to microphones, audio monitorspeakers, head phones, sound mixing boards, electronic musicinstruments, audio and video filtering hardware; stage effects, visualeffects, pyrotechnics processing and control systems, etc.

Referring now, in particular, to FIGS. 2 and 17, the IM 50 may include aprinted circuit board “PCB” 61 which may include the microprocessor 54capable of exchanging digital data communications via electrical signallines 52 or optical signaling means with an EM 100. The IM 50 may alsocontain various electrical components 55 which may be configured tointerface using various signals with other circuitry or controlsinternal to the controllable device 20.

As mentioned, the IM 50 may include a power or voltage regulator 53which may draw power from a connection 60 to a voltage power sourceinternal to the controllable device 20, and any required voltage supplyfiltering components such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors orferrite chokes to eliminate electrical noise which may be produced bythe controllable device 20. The voltage regulator 53 may be connected onthe source side to some power source 60 that may be present internal tothe controllable device 20. The supply side may be connected to providenormal operating power for the IM 50 and its components. The supply sidemay also pass power through the external connector 40 to power the EM100 when attached to the controllable device 20.

EMI shielding may be provided to the components of the IM 50 or to theentire module, or the connecting wires, or all of the above, ascomponents such as stroboscopic flash elements and xenon tubes, and helike, may produce substantial bursts of electromagnetic energy whendischarged or during the recycling of power capacitors. The energyproduced may be damaging to the IM 50. The EMI shielding may be may becoupled with the EM 100 via the electrical connector between the IM 50and EM 100. In some cases, it may be desirable to place an opto-isolatorin series with the signal lines 52 prior to connecting to the externalconnector 40 to prevent spikes or noise from being coupled into an EM100.

The PCB 61 of the IM 50 may be constructed as small as possible, and maybe formed and shaped to specifically fit into a given open spaceinternal to the controllable device. The location may be as near aspractical to the placement of the external connector 40 and the pointsat which the IM 50 will electrically connect to the circuitry present inthe controllable device 20. IN some cases, the PCB 61 may be split intoseveral parts, for example, multiple PCB's, each containing a portion ofthe desired circuitry, and/or the various parts electrically connected.It may be particularly helpful in confined spaces to locate variousportions of the IM 50 in more than one place inside the controllabledevice 20. Doing so may facilitate getting all of the desired componentsto fit inside the controllable device 20.

The entire IM 50 or portions of the IM 50 may be wrapped in anelectrically nonconductive material such as industrial heat shrink wrap.This may help to protect and isolate the IM 50 from shorting againstcomponents internal to the controllable device 20. An adhesive may beprovided on the exterior of the heat shrink to stick the IM 50 to aninternal surface of the controllable device. The IM may also be designedwith screw bosses or other fasteners, provide latches for zip ties, andso on—making for easy securing of the IM 50 inside the controllabledevice 20.

The I/O circuitry 55 of the IM 50 may include various componentsavailable to a circuit designer for interfacing with the characteristicsignals found inside the controllable device 20. Some examples areprovided as follows:

In one example, a single trigger or activation signal may be the onlysignaling to the controllable device provided by the IM 50. Manyphotographic strobe units may provide a voltage to a sync jack connector26 or hot shoe already installed during manufacturing. Normally, acamera system may pull this voltage low or mechanically shorts it toground when the camera shutter is open, and the falling voltage maycause the equipment to activate.

In some embodiments this voltage may be pulled low from the IM 50 byproviding a simple NPN transistor. The collector of the transistor maybe electrically connected to the trigger voltage internal to thecontrollable device 20. The emitter may be tied to ground, and the basemay be powered via a series resistor directly from the MCU 54 or viaother components. When the base of the transistor is energized, thetransistor may open and pull the trigger voltage to ground, causing thecontrollable device 20 to activate. This trigger line may be soldered toone of many points inside the controllable device 20, perhaps the mostconvenient being at the inner side of the sync jack already present inalmost all strobe lighting devices. The transistor may be rated tohandle the voltage present on the trigger line. In modern devices thismay be only about 5 volts, but in older lighting equipment it may beseveral hundred volts.

Raw analog voltages and sine waves may be generated by Digital to AnalogConversion “DAC” components. The MCU 54 of the IM may have DACperipherals built right in, or a DAC integrated circuit may be used andcontrolled by the MCU 54. Conversely, analog voltages may be sampled byan Analog to Digital Conversion “ADC” arranged in a similar way. The DACand ADC may be used to set or sample reference voltages and powerlevels. It may also be used to sample or reproduce audio or videosignals. For example, an IM 50 installed in a microphone may be used tosample the audio input to that microphone and cause that input to besent wirelessly by radio via an attached EM 100. It may also be possibleto reproduce audio or video to monitor speakers or video displays in asimilar way.

Digital signals may be provided directly from the MCU 54 in directelectrical connection to circuitry internal to the controllable device,or may be routed through isolation components such as opto-isolators,allowing high and low signals (for example serial data) to be passed tothe controllable device without directly electrically connecting to it

Filtering and over voltage protection should be taken into account whereany electrical conductor of the IM 50 is connected to an electricalportion of the controllable device 20. In most cases, the controllabledevice may have components that operate at a voltage that might damagethe components on the IM 50. A diode rated for a reverse voltage as highas, or higher than, the maximum voltage found within the controllabledevice 20 may be provided in series with all control or signal lineswhich may electrically contact components internal to the controllabledevice 20.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view illustrating an example circuitryconfiguration 80 wherein circuitry 55 from the IM 50 may be coupled withcircuitry 29 of a controllable device 20. The circuitry configuration 80may make it possible to perform more advanced control functions bytemporarily taking control of signal lines present in the controllabledevice. This may involve, for example, taking control of SPI, I2C,RS-232, USB, or other digital communication lines internal to thecontrollable device 20.

For example, a controllable device 20 may be manufactured which mayinclude device circuitry that may include an input portion including acontrol unit, such as a microprocessor 30, which may send signals 31 toan output portion, which may include a charge, discharge, and control acircuit 32 which controls the emission of light from a xenon tube 22.Then, a set of one or more control lines 182 to the conductors 31 comingfrom the microprocessor 30 already present in the controllable device 20may be contacted. Control lines 183, or circuit board traces, leading tothe xenon tube control circuit 32 may then be cut, and a second set ofcontrol lines 180 to the conductors leading to the xenon tube controlcircuit 32 may be connected. This arrangement may make it possible toroute both sets of control lines 51 to the MCU 54 or other specificcircuitry 55 of the IM 50.

The IM 50 may include a switching device, or switch 184, by which thelines 182 coming from the microprocessor 30 of the controllable devicemay be normally electrically connected to the control lines 180 leadingback to the xenon tube control circuit 32 just as they were before theinstallation of the IM 50. The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may momentarilyswitch the lines away from the microprocessor 30 of the controllabledevice 20 and electrically connect these control lines to acorresponding set of control lines 181 connected to itself and takedirect control of these lines itself—sending its own signals to thexenon tube control circuit 32. After a short period of controlling thecontrol circuit 32 and xenon tube 22 from the MCU 54 of the IM 50, theswitch 184 may be returned to its normal configuration and themicroprocessor 30 present on the controllable device may again resumenormal control of the control circuit 32 and xenon tube 22 as theelectrical connections may be restored as originally designed into thecontrollable device 20.

In some cases, the xenon tube control circuit 32 (or any other circuitthat produces a desired useful behavior of the controllable device 20),may provide a periodic or continual status or control signal back to themicroprocessor 30 of the controllable device 20, and if thecommunication is lost with the xenon tube control circuit 32 during thetime the MCU 54 of the IM 50 takes control, the controllable device 20may enter an error condition which may be unpredictable to recover from.In this case, the MCU 54 of the IM 50 may be configured, via anappropriate circuit present on the IM 50, for example, to provide theexpected status signal back to the microprocessor 30 of the controllabledevice that the xenon tube control circuit 32 would have normallyprovided, or a signal substantially similar to that control signal, or adefault control signal which may cause the microprocessor 30 of thecontrollable device or other portions of the circuitry 29 of thecontrollable device 20 to remain unaware that it momentarily lostconnection with a certain portion of its components, functions, orcircuitry 32.

The example circuitry configuration 80 depicted in FIG. 19 is asimplified schematic. When switch 184 is thrown to provide access to thecontrol circuit 32 from the MCU 54 via signal lines 181, it may bepossible to also send the required expected feedback or status signalfrom the MCU 54 to the microprocessor 30 via signal lines 182.

This feedback signal may be a coded digital pattern, the content,protocol, or meaning of which may or may not be apparent. Alternatively,the feedback signal may be a specific analog voltage or voltage wave; ora set of pulses having a given duration, period, and frequency. In thecase that the status signal sent from the control circuit 32 back to themicroprocessor 30 of the controllable device isn't always known orpredictable, the MCU 54 of the IM 50 may first observe the signal orstatus pattern being sent between the existing components 32 and 30 viasignal lines 182 without effecting or interfering with the signal. TheMCU 54 of the IM 50 may also store that control signal in memory. Thenwhen taking control of the xenon tube control circuit 32 by throwing theswitching means 184. The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may repeat this storedstatus pattern back to the microprocessor 30 of the controllable devicevia signal lines 182 with the required characteristics such that themicroprocessor 30 of the controllable device is never aware of themomentary loss of communication with a portion of its components 32.

Thus, regardless of the complexity of signaling happening inside thecontrollable device 20, it may be possible to momentarily intercept thissignaling, creating a fabricated or “cloned” control signal back to acontrolling means 30 present inside the controllable device 20. And atthe same time, it may be possible to take control of a portion ofcircuitry 32 within the controllable device to elicit a desired anduseful response from the controllable device, then immediately returnthe functionality back to the normal microprocessor 30 or circuitryalready present in the controllable device 20 such that normal operationof the controllable device is not noticeably interrupted.

It should be noted that the discussed example of intercepting a signalas discussed between a microprocessor and a xenon tube control circuitmay be adopted to intercept any useful signal from any useful componentor circuitry within any controllable device and to create a signal towhich another portion of the controllable device is responsive to createa useful response.

The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may also be configured to report back to amicroprocessor 30 or other signal management, processing, or memorystorage circuitry of the controllable device 20 a new setting, status,or set point of a portion of circuitry 32 after interfacing with it, ifthe interfacing has changed the setting, status, or set point of thecircuitry 32 and it is required or useful for the microprocessor 30 ormemory storage circuitry to be aware of the new setting, status, or setpoint which was set or adjusted by the interfacing between the MCU 54and the circuitry 32.

For example, an audio sound mixer typically includes motor controlledsliders that set the mixing gain of an audio input channel. The IM 50could, using the above process, take control of a given slider and causeit to move to a new position. The microprocessor already present in theaudio mixer may have stored a variable representing the current positionof each of the mechanical sliders on the sound mixer. If the IM 50 takesdirect control and repositions the slider without the existingmicroprocessor being aware, a mismatch might occur possibly leading tooperational errors or conflicts in the audio mixer. In this case, theMCU 54 of the IM 50 may take control of the slider, reposition it, thencreate a signal back to the MCU 54 that is normally created by the motordrive which positions the slider indicating the new updated position ofthe mechanical slider, such that no mismatch occurs.

The installed IM 50 should allow the controllable device 20 to retainall of its original functionality using the controls and user interface23 implemented by the manufacturer. When the IM 50 causes thecontrollable device to operate, the operation should create minimaldisruption to the user or normal user interface, and should mimic andcreate the same response on the user interface the user is accustomed towhen the controllable device operates without the interaction of the IM50. When properly installed and the controllable device is re-assembledafter installation, the only evidence as to the presence of the IM 50may be the existence of a connector, port, plug, 40 or optical signalingwindow installed in the exterior of the controllable device in aconveniently accessed location. The location selected may not interferewith the normal physical movement or operation of the controllabledevice 20 or its normal user interface 23, setting controls 24 orindicators 25 when a mating EM 100 is attached.

The IM 50 may also connect to various sensing, feedback, or statussignals present inside the controllable device 20 via the appropriatecircuitry 55 implemented to interface with the desired sensing,feedback, or status signals. It is also possible that additional lowcosts sensors may be installed along with the IM 50 in certain keylocations inside the controllable device to provide the controllabledevice, via the additional status reporting, ability provided by the IM50. For example, small thermocouples may be installed in portions of theequipment prone to overheating such as on or near a xenon tube 22.Sensors recording the revolutions per minute of a shaft may be installednear cooling fans and may report back the RPM of the fan, or airflowthrough the fan. Additional voltage monitoring points may be installedto monitor for example the remaining charge of a set of batteries, or tomeasure the amount of time required to recycle the xenon power capacitorfrom a given voltage to another given voltage—that time being anindication of how well the batteries are performing. These variousfeedback and sensing means may be easily reported to other portions ofthe lighting system as discussed previously in this disclosure.

It may also be possible to connect to substantially every user output ordisplay function 25 of the controllable device 20 and substantiallyevery user input function 24 of the controllable device 20. Thus it maybe possible to completely remotely recreate the exact user interface andbutton operation of the controllable device such that a user does nothave to re-learn a control system. They may, for example, use a remoteversion of the same control system as that provided locally to thecontrollable device. All or portions of a display such as a liquidcrystal display output may be monitored internal to the controllabledevice, and the content of that display may be sent wirelessly using thepresent invention as previously described. Also, inputs to a touchscreensensor applied to a display of the controllable device may be cloned fora desired response of the controllable device as previously described.

All displays, status lights and other user outputs or indicatorsinstalled on a given piece of controllable device 20 may be recreatedremotely and wirelessly by another remote physical display such as thedisplay 13 provided on a wireless control device 75 used with a camerasystem 1, or recreated graphically on a computer screen, on theinterface of a personal digital assistant, or on a device such as anApple iPhone.

This integration of control functions may be accomplished in variousways. One example may be to electrically via lines 51 connect from thecircuitry 29 inside the controllable device 20 with the signal line toevery segment of an LCD display; a power line to every indicator light;and the trigger contact to every switch or button, to the IM 50. The IM50 may then be able to initiate a response in the controllable device 20by electrically pressing any button for example, if a button press pullsa line to ground. Then the MCU of the IM could cause a similar responsewhereby the given signal line may be pulled to ground, thereby causingthe exact response in the controllable device that may have been createdhad the actual physical button on the controllable device been pressed.Another example process might be to monitor the digital signal linesgoing from a microprocessor 30 of the controllable device to anintegrated circuit that drives a liquid crystal or other display. If thesignaling protocol is known, and by observing the control signals to thedisplay driver, it may be accurately predicted how the actual displaywill react, it is possible to monitor a display or other output meanswith far fewer sensing lines 51 than connecting to every segment of adisplay.

FIG. 20 is a schematic view illustrating another example circuitryconfiguration 81 wherein circuitry 55 from the IM 50 may be coupled withcircuitry 29 of a controllable device 20. This example illustrates usingvariations of the above approach, to observe, simulate, or control theposition of manual variable settings and controls—such as the positionof a physical rotary selector switch, slider, or other control.

As depicted by FIG. 20, a given controllable device 20 may have a rotaryswitch 215 used to select various modes of operation of the controllabledevice 20. In most cases, it may not be possible to remotely physicallyreposition the rotary switch as the rotary switch likely does notcontain a motor drive ability. (It should be apparent from thedisclosure, however, that it would be possible to elicit a response ofthat motor drive by the IM 50 to physically reposition the switch.) Inaccordance with various embodiments, it may be possible to observe thecurrent set point of the physical switch 215 by an electrical connectionto the processor 54 of the IM 50 via lines 216, 51, and 218. It may thenbe possible for the processor 54 of the IM 50 to intercept this currentset point by creating an artificial output 219 that is representative ofthe rotary switch in various positions to the microprocessor 30 of thecontrollable device from signal output 219 to the microprocessor 30 vialines 51. The microprocessor 30 may no longer able to directly sense theposition of switch 215 as the direct connect signal lines are cut 217.If the IM 50 is commanded by an EM 100 to effectively place the rotaryswitch 215 in a new position, the IM 50 may create the output 219 to thecontrollable device that would normally have been created had theselector actually been physically rotated to a new setting. At the sametime, the IM 50 may continue to observe, via line 218, the actualphysical position of the physical rotary switch 215 by monitoring theswitch output signal. If that output signal is changed (for example, ifa user attempts to take local control of the device by actually turningthe physical selector switch), the IM 50 will observe that the switchhas been repositioned via a software interrupt routine triggered whenthe switch was moved. It can then release manual control of the signaland allow the signal being produced from the actual physical switch 215to be observable by the normal circuitry or microprocessor 30 present inthe controllable device 20. The IM 50 may also optionally retain controlof the signal, or, the IM 50 may be commanded by an EM 100 at some pointto release the cloned position of the selector 215, and allow theinternal circuitry of the controllable device 20 to again directlyobserve the actual position of the physical selector 215.

It may also be possible for the IM 50 to switch off or power downcertain portions of controllable device based on any criteria. Forexample, after reading an internal thermocouple the IM 50 may power downa cooling fan when a temperature is below a set point. The IM 50 may beable to cause the fan to resume operation if the temperature exceeds apredetermined set point. Similarly, it may be desired to turn off amodeling lamp if no user interaction has been observed for a specifiedperiod of time. This may accomplished by splicing into the electricalsupply to power the cooling fan, modeling lamp, or other components androuting that power through a switch, relay, or transistor provided bythe IM 50 and controlled by the MCU 54 of the IM 50.

FIG. 21 is a schematic view illustrating another example circuitryconfiguration 82 wherein circuitry 55 from the IM 50 may be coupled withcircuitry 29 of a controllable device 20. This example illustratescontrolling the main power switch or power function of the controllabledevice 20, 29 by the IM 50, 55, and 54. This may be accomplished bysplicing or cutting line, or trace, 202 into the signal output 203 ofthe main power switch or button 201 between the switch and the point atwhich the switch connects to downstream components 204 or processingwith a second switching means or relay 206 which may be operated 209 bythe MCU 54 of the IM 50. It may also be possible to contact the signalor power supply 200 to the main power switch 201, and via the secondswitching means 206, to route power or signals 207, 208 around thephysical installed switch 201, controlled by the MCU 54 of the IM 50.

In many cases a voltage capable of being used as a power supply for boththe IM 50 and an EM 100 may be accessible internal to the controllabledevice even when the main power switch is turned off. One side of theswitch 201 may have a voltage in order for it to function as a switch.Embodiments may therefore route operating power to a power regulator 53of the IM 50 from signal line 207—the input to the relay used to routeincoming power. The regulator 53 may be able to supply power to the IMcircuitry including MCU 54 and an EM 100. The MCU 54 may also sense theoutput of the physical power switch 205, now cut at 202 from supplyingthe circuit 203, 204, and use the position of the physical switch 201via 205 as an input to the MCU 54 to choose whether to open or close theelectronic switching means 206. Thus the controllable device 20 maystill operate by the activation of the installed physical switch 201,but the position of this switch may be overridden in either direction bythe IM 50 at any time. Thus various embodiments make it possible toplace controllable device in locations not easily physicallyaccessed—such as in an overhead space. With the controllable device 20having an IM 50 and an attached EM 100, it may be possible to completelypower the controllable device 20 on or off wirelessly via radio signals.

Returning to FIGS. 2 and 17, an Internal Module 50 may include a PCB 61to which the other components of the IM 50 may be attached. The IM 50may include a microprocessor or “MCU” 54. The MCU 54 may incorporate asoftware program or “firmware” directing the operation of the MCU 54.The IM 50 may also include a clocking oscillator 56. Internal Module 50may include at least one connecting point or solder pad whereby at leastone signal, via line(s) 51, may be sent to a circuit 29 internal to thecontrollable device 20. The signal may cause the controllable device 20to elicit an action or useful behavior; or whereby at least one signal51 may be received from a circuit 29 internal to the controllabledevice. The signal may represent some useful value, indication, process,activity, characteristic, or status of the controllable device. Thesignal may represent a source of operating power 60 via a voltageregulator 53, and may be sourced by a voltage internal to thecontrollable device. Note that many of the figures of this disclosuredepict only 4 conductor lines, though it should be understood that theactual number of conductors may vary between various pieces ofcontrollable device—only a few lines for simple embodiments, but anembodiment giving control to elaborate and sophisticated interfaces—suchas installation in the audio mixer of a large recording studio, mayrequire several hundred or more lines, all for the simplicity of thisdisclosure, depicted as a set of signal lines, power supply lines,ground lines, or any combination thereof as 51.

Internal Module 50 may include at least one digital signal reception andtransmission device such as a SPI port or I2C port; and a second set ofsolder pads or connections 52 that connect to the digital signalingmeans and the power regulator 53; a set of wires leading to a connectoror port 40, or having connector 40 installed directly on the PCB 61without requiring wires; the connector 40 installed by cutting anappropriate opening in the external enclosure of the controllabledevice, and allowing connection by an EM 100 to the power source 53 anddigital signaling means of the IM 50. The entire package (obviouslyexcept for the connector) may be wrapped in an electrical insulatingmaterial such as plastic shrink wrap.

The MCU 54 of the IM 50 may be any signal processing device. Embodimentsmay have a small footprint and may be relatively inexpensive, forexample the ATXMega family and ATTiny family of microprocessorsmanufactured by Atmel, ideally including only enough pins to control thefunctions or circuitry 55 specifically needed for the controls expectedof the given IM 50. These devices may have an internal clock oscillatorso no external oscillator may be required. Some MCU 54 models mayrequire an external crystal 56 or resonator to provide a clock source.These MCU s may be reprogrammed while installed in an applicationcircuit using one of their general or specific data ports, such asprogramming via a SPI port, or a dedicated programming and debugginginterface.

The IM 50 may be designed such that it may be possible to access a setof signal lines 52 capable of causing the device to reprogram itself viacharacteristic contacts of the external connector, or to design aprotocol such that the digital signaling may also convey data intendedto reprogram the MCU 54 of the IM 50. It is then possible to reprogram afirmware on an installed IM 50 via connection to a dedicated programmerplugged into the external port 40, or the new software firmware may becommunicated by the EM 100, and the EM 100 may have retrieved an updatedfirmware for the IM 50 from a network server when connected to acomputer network device for the synchronization of its license keys.Causing the firmware update from the EM 100 is also desirable as the MCU54 of the IM 50 may already know it is communicating with a licensed EM100 before allowing itself to accept an incoming firmware. It isimportant that it is made difficult to reprogram the MCU 54 of the IM 50by any but an authorized source. A malicious user could devise afirmware that causes activation of licensed functions within the IM 50without first checking to see if a valid key is present to allow theoperation thus it is important to disallow easy access to the writing offirmware from readily available sources.

The IM 50 may include a nonvolatile memory capable of storing settings.Common EEPROM or FLASH type memory may be used, including other lesscommon memory storage solutions. This EEPROM may be designed internal toMCU 54.

The IM 50 may include a power regulator 53 which may be able to regulatepower drawn from a power source contacted internal to the controllabledevice 20. This power regulator may supply at the least, a 3.0 volt DCoutput or other voltage as required by circuitry of the IM 50 and EM100. The regulator may also instead of or in addition to, supply 5 voltDC or other voltage if needed. The regulator may also be required tosupply voltage characteristic of a specific voltage used by signalsinside the controllable device such that the IM is required to interfacewith. For example, if a control circuit inside the controllable devicerequires a 300 volt trigger signal, the regulator provided on the IM 50should make possible the regulation of a 300 volt supply found withinthe controllable device 20 in addition to the 5 volt or 3 volt supplywhich may be required by MCU 54 and other components of the IM 50.

Care must be taken to keep incompatible voltages separate by usingvarious isolators, transformers, diodes, voltage converters, and othercomponents as would be understood by one skilled in the art of electriccircuit design. This is to avoid possibly sending a high voltage such as300 volts to the input of a microprocessor which may be rated only to 5volts.

The regulator 53 must also supply low voltage power to the connector 40external to the controllable device, and must be able to sourceapproximately 50 to 100 milliamps, at a voltage between 2.8 volts and3.6 volts. This supply will be used to power an attached EM 100.

The IM may also provide an output to an indicator light or displaydirectly from the PCB of the IM, or via flexible wires. The display maybe left internal to the controlled equipment, or may penetrate theexterior enclosure of the controllable device 20 near the externalconnector, placed near other instrumentation or controls of thecontrolled equipment originally installed by the manufacturer of thecontrollable device, or in another convenient location. The indicatorlight may provide feedback and indication to the user as to the presenceof the IM 50, the power status of the IM 50, when the IM 50 successfullyhandshakes with an attached EM 100, or when it is desirable tocommunicate any other useful status information to a user or atechnician servicing the equipment.

The IM 50 may include hardware identification devices similar to thosedescribed for use in an EM 100 of the present invention. Suitabledevices include 57 the AT88SA1025 from Atmel, and/or 58 the AT88SA10HSalso from Atmel, among others. The IM 50 may include one or more“instant action” signal lines which may be used to mark the timing ofvery fast events, a specific rising or falling edge of a signal, etc.—which would be difficult to mark using just serial communications tothe MCU 54 as the serial communication and byte reception take some timewhich may be unknown or variable. An “instant action” line can drive forexample a transistor 59 which may cause the immediate activation of anevent within a controllable device.

An External Module 100 may include a microprocessor, or “MCU” 110, and aradio signal receiver, which may also include a radio signaltransmitter, or a radio signal transceiver 116 capable of both sendingand receiving radio signals. The EM 100 may include a nonvolatile memorythat may be configured to be tamper resistant. The memory may store aunique serial number such as an HID that may also be difficult to tamperwith. The EM 100 may also include at least one electrical connector 101or cord mate-able with a similar electrical connector.

The EM 100 may include some user interface controls 104 such as powerand configuration buttons, and a feedback mechanism such as lightedindicators or various displays. The EM 100 may draw primary operatingpower via line 121 from the electrical connector 101. The power may beprovided via an IM 50 installed inside a controllable device 20. The EM100 may also have an on-board, or secondary, power source such as abattery or a charged capacitor.

The EM 100 may also provide a means of data communication directly witha distributed network, or a computer system which, in turn, may beconnected to a distributed network, either by a wired or wireless means.The EM 100 may connect to a personal computer using a USB connector 102which may be electrically connected to a USB controller 119 or chipsetinstalled within the EM 100. The EM 100 may draw operating power 122from the personal computer via the power supplied by the USB connectorduring synchronization. Alternately, the EM 100 may be designed toinclude a WiFi, Cellular or other wireless networking scheme directly,in which case the EM 100 may participate as a device on a distributednetwork directly.

The EM 100 may be used in various configurations. For example, in afirst configuration the EM 100 may be electrically connected to acontrollable device 20 containing an IM 50. The EM may draw power fromthe controllable device 20. The MCU 110 of the EM 100 may send aninterrupt signal to the MCU 54 of the IM 50 (or vice versa) via theexternal connector 101. The interrupt signal may indicate the presenceof the EM 100 to the IM 50. The IM 50 and EM 100 may be configured tocommunicate using various communication methods including variousencrypted communication methods. For example, they may be configured touse shared public key type encryption. This method may provide lowprocessor overhead, and may be easily implemented. Using this method,the IM 50 may send a public key to the EM 100, and the EM 100 may send apublic key to the IM 50. Both devices may use the public key along withthe respective private keys held by each device to initiate an encryptedcommunication between the MCU 110, of the EM 100 and the MCU 54, of theIM 50. This encrypted communication may be used to exchange an EQID, anda set of flag bits representative of functions the IM is allowed toperform.

Using the established encrypted communication means, the IM 50 may thensend its EQID to the EM 100. The MCU of the EM may look up the EQID in areference table stored in its nonvolatile memory, and denotes the flagbits set for that EQID listing which are representative of licenses orkeys to enable the IM 50 to carry out specific functions at the requestof this particular EM 100. The EM 100 may send the flag bits back to theIM 50. The IM 50 may store the flag bits and enables or disablesportions of the circuitry on the IM, or enables or disables theexecution of certain portions of software within the MCU based on theflag bits. Once this “handshake” has been performed, the IM 50 mayperiodically poll the EM 100 to insure the module is still present andwhen an EM 100 may no longer be present, the IM may clear all of theflag bits for all of its licensed functions and awaits another EM to beinserted at which time the handshake happens again.

After the handshake, the EM may begin listening for radio signalsmatching characteristic patterns on a desired frequency and using adesired protocol. Protocols may include digital spread spectrum, directfrequency, frequency hopping, on-off-key modulation keying, frequencyshift modulation keying, mesh networking standards such as ZigBee,standard computing wireless protocols such as WiFi, BlueTooth, andothers.

When a radio signal data packet 12, 15, is demodulated by the radioreceiver 116, the payload data is removed from the packet and sent tothe MCU 110 of the EM 100. The demodulation and handling of the packetstructure may be performed by a first-in-first out “FIFO” type facilitywithin the radio receiver 116, such as that implemented within thecommercially available Texas Instruments CC1101 radio transceiver, orthe raw “transparent” or synchronous demodulated data may be output viaa signal line to the MCU 110, in which case the software of the MCU isable to manage the structure of the radio packet and retrieve thepertinent payload data. It is recommended to use a chip such as theCC1101 as the overhead of operating the radio demodulator, slicing theinput signal, and managing the packet structure of the incoming radiodata is easily handled within the CC1101 without any overhead requiredof the MCU. The CC1101 signals it is receiving a data packet or that adata packet has been received by signaling the MCU 110 via a singlesignal line causing an interrupt within the MCU 110. The MCU 110 thenreads the payload data from the FIFO of the CC1101 using a SPI interfacebetween the MCU 110 and the radio module CC1101 (a given example ofradio transceiver 116).

The MCU 110 of the EM 100 may then determine from this demodulatedpayload data what signals must be sent to the IM via a protocol to whichboth the EM and IM may be compatible, to pass a query for usefulinformation, or to pass a command to carry out some useful and desiredfunction of the IM. The IM 50 may then execute the command or looks up astatus or value in the case of a query and returns that value to the EM100. The EM may also transmit status, control signals, or queried valuesback to other components of the lighting system via radio signals 15 bytransmitting radio signals back out from the radio module 116. The EMmay provide status or light indication 104 signals to the user duringuse, upon successful handshake with the controllable device, and so on.

A second example configuration included among the various configurationsthe EM 100 may be used is as follows: The EM 100 may connect to acomputer system via USB 102 or other connection. Upon connection to thecomputer system such as a personal computer “PC”, the EM 100 mayresponds in standard USB “device mode” to the computer system (it mayalso use “host” mode, or “on the go”/“OTG” USB modes). The EM 100 maydraw power 122 from the USB connector 102, which may be regulated to 3volts to operate the circuitry of the EM 100 if required. Thisregulation may be performed by the USB controller IC 119. The EM 100 mayonly require a few milliamps of current to operate in this mode, acurrent easily supplied by powered USB connections.

A software program which may be loaded on the PC may be started whichmay be able to communicate via the USB port of the PC to the USBcontroller 119 of the EM 100 and thereby communicate with the MCU 110 ofthe EM 100. The software program and MCU of the EM 100 exchangeencryption keys in a similar was as discussed above.

The software program may query the HID of the EM 100. The softwareprogram may then use a network connection of the PC such as a local areanetwork, wide area network, WiFi, or other network connection that isable to communicate with a computer server on the network, which maytypically be located behind a firewall on the public internet. Thesoftware program of the PC may send a query using an encrypted Internetconnection to the remote server—sending the HID of the attached EM 100.The remote server may look up the given HID in a database, and mayretrieve a list of all the license flag bits set for the given HID forall EQIDs currently in production. The remote server may send the listof EQIDs along with the license flag bits back to the software programon the PC. The software program on the PC then sends one or more ofthese EQIDs along with the retrieved flag bits to the MCU 110 of the EM100. The MCU 110 of the EM 100 may store these flag bits in anonvolatile memory such as an EERPOM which may not be easily tamperedwith.

The software program of the PC may also send commands to the MCU 110 ofthe EM 100 which may cause the radio transmitter 116 of the EM 100 tobecome active and to communicate with other portions of the lightingsystem to provide realtime status or other means of updating the variousportions of the lighting system in a similar way.

Thus, the user may easily synchronize settings and feature license keysquickly and easily with a remote database that may be maintained by oneor more administrators, for example the manufacturer of one or morecontrollable device, or other third party.

It is also possible for a user to download a firmware for operating theEM 100 from the Internet and to load that firmware into the EM 100 viathe USB connection 102. This may make it easy to update the firmware ofthe MCU 110 of the EM without the user having to send it back to thefactory. Similarly, the connection could reprogram firmware of the MCU54 of the IM 50 while the EM 100 is connected to the external connector40 or alternately, the EM 100 can store the firmware destined for the IM50 during an synchronization session with a remote database, and loadthat firmware into the MCU 54 of the IM the next time the EM is attachedto the controllable device having the IM installed.

Either of these methods of firmware update of the EM, IM, or anycombination thereof may take place with or without the consent of theuser. For example, if it becomes known that license keys or the securityof the licensing system has been breached, it may be easy to devise achain of events whereby certain key software changes, key changes, orcode changes are automatically propagated throughout all EMs and IMscurrently in operation.

It may be desirable to program the firmware of the EM to requiresynchronization with an external database at regular intervals tocontinue operating normally—such as once per calendar month or otherdesired interval, or in response to certain events such as an attempt tohandshake with an unauthorized or non-licensed device.

In any case, it should be insured that the firmware of either the EM orIM may not be easily written or overwritten by other than authorizedsources to prevent malicious users from disabling or tampering with thelicensing facility designed into the present invention.

An example External Module EM 100 may be generally constructed asfollows, though someone skilled in the art of electronic circuit design,embedded systems design, and computer software may design the physicalembodiment with minor alterations without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure. An EM 100 may include a physicalenclosure 125 which may enclose a (printed circuit board) PCB 129. Theenclosure 125 may be made of any durable ridged and light weightmaterial. Some embodiments may use is a light weight aluminum which maybe electrically connected to the ground plane of the PCB 129 which mayserve to effectively enlarge the ground plane which may be desirable forincreased sensitivity of the radio module 116 by providing a largercounter plane to the antenna. This may also limit emissions of EMI fromthe EM 100, and may help provide some immunity to EMI coming fromsources outside the EM, for example, limiting the EMI andelectromagnetic pulse induced into the internal circuitry of the EM bycontrollable device which may include a high voltage xenon tube—theactivation of which produces substantial EMI and EMP when activated.Plastic such as PVC or ABS may also be used as a lower cost option.

The external enclosure may provide an electrical connector 101 and a USBconnector 102, or may provide a single connector that may be able tocarry both control signals to an IM 100 and USB. The electricalconnector 101 may be designed to mate with the electrical connector 40(FIG. 7) provided on the external enclosure of a controllable device 20which is electrically connected to an IM 50 installed internal to thecontrollable device 20.

The PCB 129 of the EM may include a radio module 116 such as a CC1101radio transceiver available commercially from Texas Instruments, Inc, aclock source or crystal 117 for creating the intermediate frequency todrive the radio module. The PCB may anchor an antenna 103, or aconnector to be used for the placement of an antenna such as an RP-SMAscrew type connector. Circuitry or various tuning components 118 such asa matching balun may be designed between the radio 116 and antenna 103.

The PCB 129 may include an MCU 110, and if required a second clocksource 124 required by the MCU 110 either internal to the MCU orexternal to the MCU. The PCB 129 may also include an integrated circuitthat may be configured to be difficult to be tampered with. Theintegrated circuit may store a unique HID, such as for example, an AtmelT88SA102S and/or an Atmel AT88SA10HS 112, 113 integrated circuit. TheHID may also be stored internal to the MCU on FLASH or EEPROM typememory.

A non-volatile memory (such as for example an EEPROM) may be providedfor storing license bit flags keyed to various EQIDs, either internal tothe MCU or external to the MCU. A user interface 104 such as buttons,displays, or status lights may also be provided on the PCB 129 andexposed through enclosure 125.

Signal lines may be provided to the external connector 101 from the MCUof the EM directly or via some additional filtering or logic controlcircuitry. Generally the EM may be able to route the sending andreceiving of some sort of serial or parallel data stream to the externalconnector. It is recommended to provide also at least one signal line tobe used as an “immediate action” or “time sync” signal line, a line thatis generally not affected by the latency induced by the task of sendingserial data. This line can be used to signal time critical events suchas the trigger synchronization of a camera shutter to the activation ofthe controllable device directly to the IM. It may also be used to markspecific events in time, for example, to synchronize characteristic timedelays between several wireless or wired devices.

The PCB may include a power regulator 115 to manage power source 121from an IM 50 via the external connector 101, sourced via a power supplyinternal to the EM such as a battery or charged capacitor, or sourcedfrom a powered USB connection 102. The PCB may also include includes aUSB connector 102 port and a USB controller or chipset 119 which may beconnected to MCU 110.

It may be desirable to include optionally a switching means 120controllable by MCU 110 which, when thrown, allows the various signallines going to radio module 116 (such as SPI interface lines, CSn, GDO2,GDO0, interrupt signals, etc) to be directly accessible from electricalcontacts of connector 101, or signals passed through various isolationcomponents (such as opto-isolators). This makes it possible, if allowedby the firmware of the MCU 110 on EM 100, to provide direct access tothe radio module for a desired task to anything internal to thecontrollable device having access to external connector 40. It mayoccasionally be desirable to allow circuitry or components external tothe EM to have direct control of the radio module.

FIG. 19 is an example system configuration in accordance with variousembodiments. As illustrated, the EM 100 may provide additionalconnectors or ports which may be used to attach physical cables 151 orwires which may lead to other additional equipment. For example, aphotographer may use three photographic lights placed physically neareach other. An EM 100 may be attached to a single light. The EM 100 maythen route control signals via the additional connector to both thefirst light to which the EM is attached, and may also simultaneously, oras directed, send and receive signals from electrical connectors on theexterior of the other two lights. In effect, multiple devices may be“daisy chained” together and controlled by a single EM, IM, orcombination thereof. Similar effect may be achieved by placing a“Y-splitter” type cable between the EM and IM. The actual embodiment ofdaisy chaining may be in the form of a second external connector similarto connector 101 which may provide a “pass-through” function to chaindevices together directly. It is also possible per FIG. 19 to provide acable 151 having multiple interface connectors 150 which accept anexternal connector 101 on one side, and connect to an external connector40 on the opposite side. This chain cord may be inserted between the EMconnector 101 and IM connector 40.

An EM 100 may provide a light sensing means (not illustrated, but easilyimplemented by one skilled in the art) such as a visible light orinfrared light sensor. This may be used to analyze or be aware by theMCU 110 of pulsed light data signals that may be emitted by somecontrollable device. Additionally, in closed confined areas, it may bepossible to use a light sensor to sense the emission of light from alighting device in a very short period of time, and cause thecontrollable device via an instant action line to activate. Thisactivation sync pulse may be generated by radio, but there may be somemodulation delays, required time for a radio preamble, etc, which may beavoided in sensing just a light signal, which may be beneficial in somecases.

For example, an EM 100 having a light sensor capability may be attachedto a studio flash unit. There may also be, in the immediate environment,a second flash unit such as a Canon 580EX SpeedLite which may be usingoptical data signals to communicate with a master device such as a CanonST-E2. The light sensor of the EM may be aware of the digitalcommunication, and when a period begins to transpire in which it isexpected a trigger pulse of light will be emitted by the master ST-E2,the EM can wait for this single trigger, while ignoring the previouspulses comprising the data portion of the signal, and when observing thesignal trigger light pulse from the ST-E2, may cause the attached studioflash unit to activate in potentially less time than would have beenrequired to activate the EM by radio signal.

Referring now, generally, to FIGS. 22-28, the connection between an EM100 and an IM 50 may also alternately be routed through a third modulesuch as an Auxiliary Module 250, hereafter “Aux Module” or “AM.” The AM250 may provide additional signal logic or filtering, may contain someor all of the circuitry included on the EM 100, may contain some or allof the circuitry provided on the IM 50, or any combination thereof.

An AM 250 may provide several useful functions. In some cases,controllable device 20 which may be small and compact, such as batterypowered flash units 300, may not provide enough space in the interior ofthe flash unit for the location of the IM 50, or some or all of itscircuitry. The space immediately inside the enclosure of such a devicemay not provide the physical relief required of an external connector orsome or all of the circuitry required by the IM 50. In such a case,(FIG. 26, FIG. 27, FIG. 28) some or all of the IM 50 or externalconnector may be moved to the exterior of the controllable device 20 andplaced in or on a third enclosure 252, which may be permanently,semi-permanently, or temporarily mounted to the exterior of a device ofcontrollable device 20. The IM circuitry placed inside an AM 250 may beelectrically connected to the controllable device 20 by connecting to apre-existing connector on the exterior of the controllable deviceinstalled by the original manufacturer of the equipment, or may berouted to the interior of the controlled equipment via a small hole 301drilled in the exterior of the controllable device 300 and the exterior260 of the AM 250, the electrical signal lines 51 or wires passingbetween the two.

The enclosure of the AM 250 may also provide additional physical anchorpoints to securely hold an EM 100 when in place. This may be valuable inapplications where the equipment may be handled or moved around a lotduring use such as may be the case with small portable battery poweredflash units, or the like.

The AM 250 may be able to act alone or as an intermediate between orinclusive of the functions described above pertaining to the EM, IM, orany combination thereof.

Per FIG. 25, in a similar way, it is possible to locate the entireinternal module 50 in an enclosure 252 external to the controllabledevice 20, allowing signal lines 51 to pass through holes 260 in theenclosure 252 and holes 37 in controllable device. The assemblypermanently or semi-permanently, or removably placed exterior to thecontrollable device 20.

The AM 250 may provide additional connectors or ports that may be usedto attach physical cables or wires which may lead to other additionalequipment to be controlled by the present invention, allowing for “daisychaining” of controllable device as previously described.

FIGS. 29-35 illustrate an example Intermediate Device 350 in accordancewith various embodiments. The Intermediate Device 350 may provide aconnector 356 or a cord or cable leading to such a connector 356, forthe mating attachment of an EM 100 or another apparatus having a radiosignal reception means. The Intermediate Device 350 may having its ownpower source 358 such as a battery, placed inside an enclosure 357 (oralternately an Intermediate Device having no battery or power source ifthe intermediate device is intended to mate with an apparatus having aradio signal reception means if the apparatus having a radio signalreception means has its own power source and is able to share this powersource with the Intermediate Device; or where the Intermediate Device350 and/or apparatus having a radio signal reception means is able todraw power from equipment being controlled by the Intermediate Devicevia any electrical connection or port present on the controllabledevice, or where the Intermediate Device is able to draw power from abattery pack or energy storage device separate from the IntermediateDevice, which may be electrically connected to the Intermediate Deviceor may power the Intermediate Device through another device), and havingcircuitry 359 independent from or substantially similar to the circuitryprovided by an IM 50 of the present invention. The Intermediate Devicegenerally may not have a radio signal communication means, but whenmated with an EM 100 or similar apparatus, the EM 100 may be able tocommunicate with the circuitry 359 in a similar way as previouslydescribed in interfacing with an IM 50. This communication between EM100 and Intermediate Device 350 may provide radio signal, or otherwireless communication, ability to the Intermediate Device 350 via theradio facility 116 provided in an EM 100.

An Intermediate Device 350 may provide signal inputs or outputsincluding but not limited to the following: a user interface 355 whichmay operate with, or in place of, the user interface 104 provided on EM100, and/or a feedback or information display 354 for providinginformation to a user; and a data port 351 (FIG. 35) which may be ableto communicate signals with various controlled equipment. FIG. 35illustrates an Intermediate Device 350 communicating via data port 351through a connector cord 380 with a controllable device 20 using thedata connector 27 of the controllable device 20.

A data port 351 (FIG. 34) of an Intermediate Device 350 may also be usedto connect to contacts present on the hot shoe 387 of a controllabledevice such as but not limited to a battery powered flash unit 300, viaa cable or adaptor 385 and a housing 386 which may electrically connectthe conductors of cable 385 to the appropriate pins, contacts,conductors, or ports 387 present on controllable device 20, 300. Thisconfiguration, may allow an Intermediate Device 350 to send and/orreceive communication signals to or from a controllable device 20, 300.These signals (such as for example serial data streams sent to, orreceived from, contacts present on the hot shoe of a lighting device)may indicate the current configuration and capabilities of thecontrolled equipment 20, 300, as well as causing the controllable device20, 300, to activate or perform some desired useful function such aschanging the position of the zoom motor in the lighting head of thedevice 300, or the like. With the insertion of a radio receiving devicesuch as an EM 100, the Intermediate Device 250 may in effect control theoperation of lighting device 20, 300 wirelessly using radio signals.

A synchronization port 353 (FIG. 33) such as a mini-phono (⅛″) jack orother jack that may provide an electrical ground and one or more signallines which may be used to activate a controllable device 20. The port353 may provide a pc-sync activation/trigger signal line and may alsoprovide a second line used for a quench signal—which may be used tocause some flash units to stop emitting light. The sync and quenchsignals may be paired on a single sync port 353 by using a standard ⅛″“stereo” port which allows for two signal lines and a ground. The use ofa two signals to activate and quench a lighting device is described indetail in U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/112,731 “System forRemote Wireless Control of TTL Camera Flash Intensity Via Radio” filedby Kevin King, also an inventor of the present invention, incorporatedin its entirety to this disclosure for reference. The sync port 353 maybe connected using a cord or adaptor 382 to a sync port 26 present onthe controllable device 20 normally used to activate the controllabledevice in synchronization with a camera shutter.

A light source 352 such as but not limited to a visible light LED or aninfrared LED (“light emitting diode”), which may provide pulsed lightdata signals, synchronization signals, activation signals, signals timedby duration to which a controllable device may be responsive (forexample, many battery powered flash units from Nikon Corporation such asfor example, an SB-800 Speed Light using “SU-4” mode) to a controllabledevice. FIG. 35 illustrates the combination of the wirelesscommunication ability 116 of an EM 100 receiving commands by radiosignal 12, 15, and sending those commands to an Intermediate Device 350of the present invention, and that Intermediate Device 350 pulsing alight source 352 to send pulsed light signals 390, which a lightingdevice 300 having an optical signal receiver 391 is responsive. This maybe used, for example, to send a pulsed light signal from a light source352 of a characteristic timing, pattern, and binary content, which maycause a lighting device 300 to activate at a desired output power andmode.

An Intermediate Device 250 may be any device which may be placedelectrically or logically or within a signal path between an apparatushaving a radio reception ability and a piece of equipment, whereby thepresence of both the Intermediate Device 250 and the apparatus havingthe radio reception ability may provide an end user an ability towirelessly communicate with the controllable device 20 via the apparatushaving radio reception ability and the Intermediate Device 250; andwhereby the controllable device may lose the described wirelesscommunication ability if either the Intermediate Device 250 or theapparatus having radio reception ability is removed from thecommunication and control system (some wireless communication with thecontrollable device may still technically exist if the controllabledevice had another means of wireless communication that would generallyact in parallel or in place of the combination of a radio receptionapparatus and an Intermediate Device 250 as described in thisdiscussion); and whereby the Intermediate Device 250 may provide somelogical or analog altering, filtering, rearranging, conversion, or otherprocess via microprocessor or discrete circuitry to a signal, signals,or data coming from an apparatus having a radio reception ability priorto sending that signal to a controllable device internally or externallyto the controlled equipment via some connector or port of thatcontrollable device. For example, any intermediate system, circuit,adaptor, processor, or filtering being placed between an apparatushaving radio signal reception ability and a signal input of a controlledequipment, excluding only simple devices which provide straightpass-through—for example, the direct electrical connection (or otherarrangement substantially similar to a direct electrical connection suchas connections via switches, opto-isolators, magnetic chokes, etc) ofthe electrical conductors of an apparatus having a means of receivingradio signals to the electrical connection to an external port orinternal contacts of a controllable device; any other implementationshould be considered subject to read upon the spirit and intent of anIntermediate Device 250 in accordance with present disclosure.

Referring now generally to FIGS. 36-38, wherein another example systemaccording to present disclosure is illustrated. A device 400 may havesignificantly similar functionality or abilities of the presentinvention IM 50 and/or EM 100 or any abilities, interfaces,interactions, or methods to splice into various signals within variouscontrolled equipment and so on, whereby the radio or wirelesscommunication facility of an EM 100, and the ability to interface withcontrollable device of an IM 50, using any of the methods described inthis disclosure, are combined into a single device 400 which is able toelectrically connect to the internals of a controllable device, andwhereby the device 400 is located exterior to a controllable device 20,and whereby the signal lines 51 between the device 400 and the circuitry29 of the controllable device exit through an opening 37 in the externalenclosure of a controllable device 20.

A Combined Function External Device 400 may be installed optionally inits own enclosure 401 and may optionally provide also a USB port 102 orother interface whereby the firmware of the microprocessor of the device400 may be easily updated, along with the updating and use of licensekeys or license flag bits from a remote database as previously discussedin this disclosure.

In effect, a Combined Function External Device 400 in accordance withpresent disclosure may be capable of performing the functions, or anysub-set of the functions, as described previously in this disclosure byany combination of the IM 50, EM 100, AM 250, and Intermediate Module350 which may be interfaced with a controllable device 20, 300 usingelectrical connectors or signal lines 51 which may be passed through theexterior enclosure of a controllable device 37, and whereby the radiotransmission and/or radio reception apparatus 116 of the system is notphysically removable from the control system as would be removable had aseparate EM 100 been used.

Signaling Using Optical or Light Signals:

In some embodiments control signals, marked timing events, or othervarious signaling data may be passed between any of the EM, IM, or AMusing pulsed light or other optical signal. This would may possiblesignaling where physical connection between devices is impractical ornot required.

In one example, the EM 100 may include a light signal source such as butnot limited to an infrared LED. The EM may then be able to be connectedto the exterior surface of a flash unit which may include an opticaltrigger circuit or “optical slave” as known in the industry. A lightpulse may be sent from the EM 100 directed out an exterior window placedwithin optical line of sight of the optical slave present on a lightingdevice. This may allow the EM to directly perform the simple operationof triggering the lighting device without having to alter any internalsof the lighting device. The activation of the lighting device 20 may bein response to receiving a command by radio signal.

In another example, the EM may be used to communicate signals tocontrolled equipment where it is not desirable to provide an electricalconnector to the exterior—such as in applications where the controllabledevice is used in harsh environments with water, used in underwaterhousings, and so on.

The light based signal may also be sent or received or combinationthereof using fiber optic signaling, or using light sending and lightreception systems such as those designed for digital audio used in hometheater applications.

Signaling Using Magnetic Fields or Ultrasonic:

Some embodiments may embody an IM and EM that may be able to communicatewith each other by pulsed magnetic fields, ultrasonic signals, andaudible sound tones; instead of or in addition to an actual electricalconnection via connectors such as 101 and 40.

As the IM and EM may only need to communicate through a thin exteriorenclosure of controllable device 20, it is possible to pulse a source ofsome magnetic phenomenon on one module, and the opposite module, havinga means of observing the time the phenomenon is occurring and notoccurring, is able to observe any pulse structure presented by thephenomenon.

Embodiments may use magnetic fields, for example, by pulsing a magnet orinductor on one device, and observing a reaction on a magnet or inductoron the opposite device, assuming the devices or at least magnets orinductors wired to each device.

The IM and EM may be placed at the same general location on the exteriorenclosure of the controllable device, having only the enclosure of thecontrolled equipment separating them. If a magnetic field is produced bysending current through an inductor on an EM, a corresponding inductoron the IM would show a voltage or current spike also in response to themagnetic field produced by the EM. If this field is pulsed on and off atgiven intervals, it may be easy to use the pulsing pattern as a basis ofdigital data and thus serial communications. A similar approach may betaken using audio or ultrasonic bursts of sound or tones.

This additional embodiment may be useful in applications calling foroperation in harsh environments were an electrical connector is notfeasible, or in applications requiring undisturbed aesthetics of theexterior of the controllable device, as a magnetic or ultrasonictransmitter or receiver may be concealed just under the surface of mostmanufactured items.

Signaling to Other Standard Connectors, Protocols, and Systems:

In some cases an External Module may communicate directly with, or via asecond AM, a piece of controllable device via a connector or data port.Examples may include serial or other control signals to a camera hotshoe or other signal port provided on the camera, such as a zoom orshutter control, a similar port on a flash unit such as a hot shoe; aswell as communicating with other industry standard command and controlsystems not normally associated with the field of photography, such as aMusic Instrument Digital Interface or “MIDI” port provided on mostelectronic musical instruments, audio recording systems and playbacksystems; similar such control and feedback interfaces which may beprovided on audio mixing equipment; interfaces used to control thepositioning, timing, programming, or operation of stage or theatricallighting and effects; interfaces for sending or receiving digital videosignals such as for example HDMI, optical and analog audio signals, andthe like.

Modules Having Secondary Power Source:

In some cases an External Module may have its own integral Backup Powersource, easily replaced by a user such as a standard AAA battery, orsource which is not intended to be replaced by the end user. For examplea small watch type battery placed in a connector or soldered directly tothe PCB. This small power source could provide trickle sleep current toallow the MCU or radio module to perform some tasks when not connectedto a power supply of the controllable device, or if said supply is notavailable.

The Backup Power can keep an MCU or related equipment in a slightly moreactive state than completely powered down. It can also source momentarypulse current to drive the Radio Module to listen periodically for aradio broadcast, sometimes called “Wake on Radio” (“WOR”), a functionprovided in some radio chips. This would make it possible for example,to power up a controllable device by radio, even if that controllabledevice was previously completely powered off—if the act of powering itoff would have interrupted the primary power source for the IM and EM.

A Backup Power would allow the Radio Module to listen for a known radiosignal command to power up the controllable device and at that time,could cause an interrupt to the IM. If that IM had a means of activatingthe main power switch of the controllable device, the IM could cause thecontrollable device to power up and in doing so, the primary powersource from the controllable device would become available again andallowing the IM and EM to resume operation in their most fully activeconfigurations without drawing any additional current from the BackupPower.

The Backup Power may be charged by the primary power source duringnormal operation—such as power provided from controllable device, or aUSB port, during a synchronization event. This may be achieved with sometypes of batteries using simple charging and regulation circuitscommonly know to anyone skilled in the art of electronic circuit design.

The battery used in the above example may be replaced by or usedtogether with a resistor—capacitor charge circuit (“RC Circuit”), bywhich a capacitor is charged during normal use, then Backup Power issourced by letting the capacitor slowly discharge through a resistorover time or at pulsed intervals. This method may be easy andinexpensive to implement with very minimal PCB space. After a period ofnormal operation, an RC Circuit could provide standby and WOR servicesto the controlled equipment for many hours or days following theprevious period of normal operation, and could be fully recharged withina few seconds of manually turning on the power of the controllabledevice.

A photo-electric material such as a solar cell which generates voltageand current in the presence of light may also be used to provide standbyand/or WOR services the EM and IM, or to recharge the Backup Powerbattery or RC Circuit.

In some cases power may be harnessed and stored from various mechanicalmeans such as piezo electric materials which create a voltage whenphysically disturbed. The act of a user moving around with a module intheir pocket or riding in a car could cause some useful power to bebuilt up and stored within the device.

External Card Slots:

In some cases it may be desirable to add a slot or connector to an EM,IM, AM, or Intermediate Device to receive a memory card such as aCompactFlash, Secure Digital/SD type memory card or similar device. Thecard may include updated license keys or software for either the IM, EM,AM, or Intermediate Device or combination thereof.

In a similar way, a slot may be provided for the insertion of a SIMMcard or similar device as used by cellular telephones as an alternate toor in addition to the HID and storage of licensing keys as previouslydescribed. The discussed slots may be provided on the exterior of acontrollable device, on an EM, IM, or directly on the IM accessible onlyby disassembling the controlled equipment.

External Module Key Synchronization Communication Via RF Instead of USB:

In some cases the EM may exchange license key information via anencrypted radio frequency communication with third device such as apersonal computer using its onboard radio transmitter—for example, it ispossible to communicate directly with a computer system having aBlueTooth or WiFi networking capability if the radio module 116 of theEM is capable of sending radio signals matching the BlueTooth or WiFiprotocols.

This may enable the synchronization license keys or other software withan EM quickly in the field without the need to disconnect the EM fromthe controlled equipment, or physically connect the EM to a computersystem.

In a similar way, EMs may share license keys between them, or to tradelicense keys, or to allow them all to draw from a pool of availablelicense keys and manage which EM is currently in use of which licensekeys.

By communicating license key data by radio, it is possible for an enduser, for example, to purchase a license key to use a particular featureon a particular EM. It is possible at some other time he would want totransfer that license to a different EM. Rather than hook each EM up toa computer and access a database, it is possible for the two EMs tocoordinate the activation of the given license on the new EM whiledeactivating the license on the old EM. Both EM s can report the detailsof the transaction back to the remote database the next time they aresynchronized, so the transferred keys may also be reassigned in theappropriate records of the remote database.

External Module with Mesh Networking Ability:

The radio transmitter, receiver, or transceiver provided in the EM maybe configured to be capable of joining, controlling, or otherwiseparticipating in a mesh network such as but not limited to ZigBeenetworks. This may simplify the task of managing a large number of EMsoperating in an environment and controlling a large number of controlledequipment. Using a specified radio standard would also help ensure agiven EM may be used in a greater number of countries around the worldwithout need of recertification for each country.

This additional mesh networking functionality may be provided viasoftware controlling the primary radio transmitter, radio receiver, orradio transceiver included on the EM, or it may be provided by a secondradio transceiver specifically designed to handle the communication,management, and overhead required by a mesh network.

Pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/632,792, entitled“WirelessRadio Mesh Network Camera Flash System with Computer SoftwareIntegration” filed by Kevin King, also one of the inventors of thepresent invention, is incorporated in its entirety for reference. Thisdocument discloses the application of mesh networking to the field ofphotographic systems in detail.

System on a Chip/FPGA:

It is possible to implement substantial function of an IM, EM, or AMusing “system on a chip” (“SOC”) technology, and/or “field programmablegate array” (“FPGA”) technology. These technologies are known to oneskilled in the art of embedded electronic system design andmicroprocessor core design.

In short, a “system on a chip” allows for a complex collection ofdigital, analog, and logical portions of circuitry to be located on asingle integrated circuit, or a micro sized printed circuit boardencapsulated in a standard IC package such and an SOIC or DIP package.

In short, an FPGA may allow for the creation of any portion of logic,memory, ports, I/Os, or other circuitry found in a standardmicroprocessor to be designed in the software realm and when thatsoftware is added to an FPGA chip, the chip in effect behaves just as apurpose built microprocessor would have behaved, and may includefunction normally requiring additional discrete parts or additional ICsexternal to the microprocessor.

In some cases a single integrated circuit or collection of integratedcircuits may be configured according to the current disclosure which mayperform all of the function, or a significant portion of the function,or a minimal amount of the function of any combination of an IM, EM, AM,or Intermediate Device.

An example application or embodiment may for example be the design offunctions of an FPGA or SOC onto a single IC which may be supplied tocamera manufacturers at very low cost. These chips could be added tocamera or lighting equipment in large volumes and at minimal additionalcost to the manufacturer. This additional circuitry may providesomething of a standardized interface with their current products, theinterface may or may not have a wireless communication capability, andit may or may not interface to a device external to the camera body orphysical enclosure of the given controllable device. In general (but notlimited to this example), a manufacturer of controllable device such asbut not limited to camera, lighting, or various electronic accessorygear may install an interface to the present invention in the form of anSOC or FPGA type device. The interface may loosely follow the example ofthe IM described

in this disclosure—interfacing with various hardware within thecontrollable device and optionally having the ability to check for avalid license present in a second device internal to the controllabledevice, in a memory card slot of the controllable device, or a deviceexternal to the controllable device which may communicate to thecontrollable device using a connector or other various signaling meansas previously described.

In effect, this embodiment may make it possible for a manufacturer ofcontrollable device to design a chip or chip-set into their productsduring the development process which may be able to interfacecharacteristic signals to a wireless device which is generally placedexternal to the controllable device and is able to communicate signalswith the SOC or FPGA within the controllable device. Thus, an endcustomer may be able to use a device such as an EM of the presentinvention to add a wireless communication capability to the controllabledevice, and without having to retrofit the controlled equipment with anyadditional hardware.

External Modules Having Multiple Radio Frequency Bands:

In various embodiments an EM 100 may have multiple radio modules 116,clock sources 117, antenna tuning components 118, antennas 103, orhaving radio systems 116, 117, 118, and 103 which are selectable orconfigurable with respect to frequency band directly from the radiomodule 116 or an attached MCU 110, or any combination thereof; whichallows the EM to send and/or receive radio signals in multiple radiofrequency bands. Some bands of interest are tuned near 344 MHz, 869 MHz,902-928 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.6 GHz, and others. Having the ability of the EMto operate at multiple frequency bands allows the EM to interact withother lighting systems and wireless photographic control systems whichoperate (depending on model and manufacturer) around these variousfrequency ranges.

While the present disclosure has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isunderstood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosedembodiments, but is intended to cover various arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method of wirelessly controlling a controllablephotographic device with a controlling photographic device, wherein thecontrollable photographic device includes a preconfigured circuitryadapted to effect a predetermined function of the controllablephotographic device, and wherein the predetermined function isassociated with a license key; the method comprising: providing a firstmodule adapted for wireless communication with the controllingphotographic device; establishing communication between thepreconfigured circuitry and the first module; identifying, by the firstmodule, the controllable photographic device; querying, by the firstmodule, a database for data representative of the license key associatedwith the predetermined function of the controllable photographic device;and allowing the predetermined function to occur, in response to anoperational command from the controlling photographic device for thepredetermined function, only upon a determination by the first modulethat the database includes data representative of the license keyassociated with the predetermined function.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the controllable photographic device is associated with anidentifier that identifies the predetermined function of thecontrollable photographic device; and wherein the identifying includesone or more of: querying, by the first module, the preconfiguredcircuitry for data representative of the identifier; and receiving, bythe first module, data representative of the identifier.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein the identifying further includes initiating anencrypted communication between the first module and the preconfiguredcircuitry; and wherein the one or more of the querying and the receivingare performed by means of encrypted communication.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the establishing includes communicating with a secondmodule adapted to control the preconfigured circuitry.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the method further includes: providing the secondmodule.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the providing the secondmodule includes installing the second module internal to thecontrollable photographic device.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein theproviding a second module is performed as a retrofit of the controllablephotographic device.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein the controllablephotographic device is associated with an EQID that identifies thepredetermined function of the controllable photographic device; andwherein the identifying includes one or more of: querying, by the firstmodule, the second module for data representative of the EQID; andreceiving, by the first module, data representative of the EQID.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein one or more communications between the firstand second modules are encrypted.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinthe establishing includes exchanging, by the first module, publicencryption keys with the second module.
 12. The method of claim 2,wherein the first module includes memory; and wherein the databasequeried by the first module is stored in the memory of the first module.13. The method of claim 12, wherein the database includes datarepresentative of one or more license keys; and wherein the methodfurther includes synchronizing the data representative of one or morelicense keys with data stored at a remote database.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the first module is associated with a unique HID; andwherein the synchronizing is performed by means of the unique HID of thefirst module.
 15. The method of claim 2, wherein the database queried bythe first module is external to the first module.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the querying includes wirelessly accessing thedatabase by the first module.
 17. The method of claim 2, wherein theallowing includes relaying, by the first module, an operational commandfrom the controlling device for the predetermined function, to thepreconfigured circuitry.
 18. A method of wirelessly controlling acontrollable photographic device with a controlling photographic device,wherein the controllable photographic device includes a preconfiguredcircuitry adapted to effect a predetermined function of the device, andwherein the predetermined function is associated with a license key; themethod comprising: establishing communication between a processoradapted to control the preconfigured circuitry and an external moduleconfigured to wirelessly communicate with the controllable photographicdevice; receiving, by the processor, data representative of a licensekey from the external module; determining, by the processor, whether thereceived data is representative of the license key associated with thepredetermined function; and controlling the preconfigured circuitry toeffect the predetermined function, in response to an operational commandfrom the controlling photographic device for the predetermined function,only upon a determination by the processor that the data communicated bythe external module is representative of the license key associated withthe predetermined function.
 19. The method of claim 18, furtherincluding: providing the processor.
 20. The method of claim 19, whereinthe processor is provided as part of an internal module installed withinthe controllable photographic device.
 21. The method of claim 19,wherein the processor is provided as part of a retrofit installation tothe controllable photographic device.
 22. The method of claim 18,wherein the controlling includes receiving, by the processor, theoperational command.
 23. The method of claim 18, wherein theestablishing includes exchanging, by the processor, public encryptionkeys with the external module.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein thereceiving includes receiving encrypted data.
 25. The method of claim 18,wherein the controllable photographic device is associated with an EQIDthat identifies the predetermined function of the controllablephotographic device; and wherein the method further includes providing,by the processor, the EQID to the external module.
 26. The method ofclaim 18, further including: periodically polling, by the processor, theexternal module to determine if the module is still in communicationwith the processor.
 27. The method of claim 26, further including:suspending performance of the predetermined function upon determiningthat the module is no longer in communication with the processor.
 28. Amethod of controlling a controllable photographic device associated withan EQID, wherein the device includes a preconfigured circuitry that isadapted to effect a predetermined function of the device identified bythe EQID, and wherein the predetermined function is associated with alicense key; the method comprising: establishing communication between aprocessor adapted to control the preconfigured circuitry and an externalmodule adapted for wireless communication with a controllingphotographic device; communicating, by the processor, datarepresentative of the EQID to the external module; retrieving, by thefirst module, data representative of the license key associated with thepredetermined function identified by the EQID; and communicating, by theexternal module, data representative of the license key to theprocessor; determining, by the processor, whether the data communicatedby the module is representative of the license key associated with thepredetermined function; and effecting the predetermined function inresponse to an operational command communicated from the module for thepredetermined function only upon a determination by the processor thatthe data communicated by the module is representative of the license keyassociated with the predetermined function.
 29. The method of claim 28,wherein the establishing includes exchanging encryption keys forencrypted communication.